Under These Lies
by toolsofdestiny
Summary: Imagine you're a hero, everyone depends on you to save the galaxy when it's in danger because of that one time you saved the universe. And then it ends in a blink of an eye. That's what happened to Ratchet. Lost on a human world, he's been tasked with destroying the Lost Hero. Ratchet now has to live a lie and stop Earth being obliterated because of his secret.
1. A New Planet

**Bonjour friends. This is my new/first story! Yay! **

**So, this story is basically Ratchet on Earth, trying to help them find the 'Lost Hero' whilst he finds a way to get home...**

**But will he?**

**DUN DUN DUUUUN**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

Imagine this, if you can. When you were a baby, your whole planet was destroyed, your father sent you away whilst the rest of the species fled. You became an orphan and grew up alone, you're also the last of your kind. One day a little robot asked for you to help him, I don't know, save the entire galaxy…?

You're a hero, everyone knows your name, and they all depend on you to save the galaxy when it's in danger because of that one (Ok, maybe two…) times you saved the galaxy.

And then it ends in a blink of an eye.

That's what happened to me.

My name is Ratchet. I'm the Lost Hero.

What happened to Earth was my fault.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

"Name?"

"Ratchet"

"Last Name?"

"None."

"Species?"

"Lombax"

"Planet of Origin?"

"Fastoon, but grew up on planet Veldin in the Solana galaxy" The interrogator scribbled on the paper in front of him. I couldn't help but sigh, I had been sat here for an hour after crash landing, my limbs ached from crashing and then sitting around in this uncomfortable metal chair for so long. They had brought me here straight away, unconscious in Aphelion to this room that was actually really depressing. It was a horrible dark green colour, the only furniture inside was the two metal chairs that me and this interrogator guy were sat on, the metal table that divided us in the center of the room and on one wall was a mirror that I knew one way,

"Do you know where you are Mr Ratchet?"

_Kill me now_,

"Earth"

"You are aware you are 6 light years away from Solana, right?"

Wait, what? Last thing I remember before waking up in the middle of a crash site was Aphelion warning me about a strange portal that had appeared. We couldn't avoid it so I had to cross my fingers and hope that the furthest it would take us was Bogon, not 6 LIGHT YEARS AWAY, "What?"

"This galaxy is called the Milky Way. Time runs different here, in your galaxy it's the year 5367, here it's only 2014. The inhabitants are called Humans."

"Is there any other species here?" The interrogator gave a slight smile, "The humans think they're alone on this planet but they have no idea just how many species are here"

"How does that work?"

"All the aliens work for a company called A.E.P.O, that stands for Alien Earth Protection Organization. We help protect the humans by making sure no 'illegal' aliens try to invade. We can roam freely across the planet but we have to wear holo-guises around the humans. They aren't ready to know that they're not alone."

"Am I 'illegal'?" I put the last bit in air quotes, what did illegal mean? This place seemed so backwards, how was I going to get home from here?

"No. That's probably because you're not our first Lombax." As soon as those words left his mouth my ears perked up. It took me several minutes to process what he had said, "I'm not the first?"

"Nah, thinking about it I think you're our sixth one? Yeah, you're our sixth now."

_There's six Lombaxes?_

The interrogation didn't last long after that. He told me that I wouldn't be able to leave for a very long time as they were still working on long range space travel and teleportation. That's when he broke it to me that Aphelion had been damaged beyond repair in the crash. My heart almost broke at that. Sure, she was just a spaceship but she had a personality and intelligence, but most importantly she was_my _ship. She was my last connection to Polaris, to home.

It was his last question that got me the most.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**1 HOUR AGO**

"Okay, one last question from me before I send you to Christine" I was still stunned from being told that there were 5 other Lombaxes on this planet and that Aphelion was dead that I barely paid any attention until now, "Were you traveling alone?"

"Yes" That's when it hit me, it dawned on me what I seemed to be missing, the dull weight on my back, the voice correcting me when I was wrong, my best friend,

_Clank._

He's now 6 light years away, probably still waiting for me to come back with the parts for the Gyro-Cycle.

He'll have no idea. He's going to think I'm dead or captured or I had run off to find my people on my own.

I was never going to see my best pal again.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

He was now leading me to this 'Christine' woman. I was in a bit of daze, a lot had happened to me in such a short amount of time that it was taking me a while to let it sink in that I was stuck here, "Just step through here, she's waiting for you." He pointed to the door on the left of us,

"Thanks" I said to him before knocking. As he walked away I realized that I was actually taller than him. That makes a change...

On the other side of the door someone called out, telling me to come in.

When I entered I saw a woman looking out of the window, across the view of a deep sea that ended at a city in the distance. I cleared my throat to grab her attention, she turned towards me and grinned. I noticed she looked human, with long brown hair hanging over her face. She had a pretty smile that light up her eyes, "Hello! I'm Agent West, but call me Christine!" She has a cheery voice, with an accent that I soon learnt was British,

"Hi, I'm Rat-"

"Ratchet? Yes, I was told about you from Lee."

"Who?"

"The Interrogator" I nodded, I'm surprised no one has done the classic, _'Wait, you're Ratchet? Savior of Solana, Bogon and Polaris?' _It makes a nice change really. I was starting to grow tired of it all, the attention from the public, the fact that whenever there was a threat everyone would turn to me and Clank to save them all, if anything I was starting to get a little tired of being a hero, "Listen" Christine spoke, bringing me out of my thoughts, "I was also told that you had no idea about the other Lombaxes and I know it's probably been a bit of a shock for you to find out about them this way so I'm gonna tell you about them before you meet them" She gestured that I sat down in the chair opposite the huge desk in the corner.

Then she told me about them: Katheryn Leroux, Eve Leroux, Erik Leroux, Michael Green and Annie. She told me about how long they had been here, what order they had come in, what their skills are and what planet they were on before coming to Earth.

We talked for nearly three hours about them, she answered any questions I had as best as she could and then she explained to me what was going to happen next for me. I was going to join their team, they would provide me with some accommodation in their safe house and meet any needs I might need, like armor, weapons, gadgets as they had some of the brightest minds in alien species tucked away in their labs, one of the Lombaxes, Annie I think it was, was included.

"Anymore questions or are we good to go?" She smiled at me, she had a warm smile like she generally wanted to help me. I was still waiting for the whole 'Hey, I know you don't I?' from her but so far had nothing, "I'm good"

"Well, let's go down and meet them then" She jumped up and headed towards the door, only turning when she noticed I wasn't following,

"Meet who?"

"The Lombaxes"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**Well? Reviews would be welcome!**

**I know Ratchet is a bit out of character but that will be explained why soon and I'm afraid that if this goes the way I want it to, he'll be out of character for a while.**

**Also, before someone asks, Clank WILL appear, but if the story goes the way I want it to, it will be awhile BUT DO NOT WORRY, he is not completely out the story until then.**

**Also, I know this chapter was in Ratchet's POV but it wont always. It's going to alternate between the 'Under These Lies' characters.**

**UPDATE: So, this is an edited version of the first chapter. Hopefully it's better than it was before!**

**NEXT:**

**The Lombax Population**


	2. The Lombax Population

**Hello everyone! Chapter 2 already! Thank you for the reviews!**

**Destiny- Yes, Annie, Katheryn and Eve are all female. We'll see what happens ;)**

**Foenix Nightshade- Thank you. There were supposed to be line breaks but I'm not sure if they appeared or not? Your review means a lot :)**

**ratchetthe1s- Thank you! I'll definitely keep that in mind during this chapter :)**

**UPDATE: Hello again! This is an edited version of the second chapter, enjoy!**

**The Lombax Population**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

I led him towards the glass elevators down the corridor from my office. I could tell Ratchet was nervous to meet them by the position of his tail, pointing straight up. Michaels is always like that before he has to give a briefing to the Level 10 agents. Me and Michael are Level 9, which means we were pretty high up in command, only one level from the elites or Level 10's as they are suppose to be called. We are that high because we have been apart of A.E.P.O since we were both ten years old, Michael had just escaped Fastoon and I had just ran away from home after finding out my father had lied to me about my mother and what she was but that's not important now. Katheryn is Level 5, she has been here for eighteen years but when she was twenty-four she returned to Polaris again for a year before Tachyon took over as emperor so she came back for her own safety. Annie is a Level 9 technician, she had grown up with Terachnoids in the middle of Axiom City and that has made her the smartest Lombax there is (Well, there's only five others so it wouldn't really be that hard to beat them...). I guess Ratchet will probably start at Level 1, it depends if he has any kind of experience or not.

As we waited for the elevator to arrive Ratchet kept on glancing over at me, almost like he inspecting me, trying to figure me out. I kept on throwing the glances back, doing the same to him. I noticed that he holds himself tall, like he did that to actually increase his height so that must mean he's quite small among friends in Polaris, he hadn't let go of the omniwrench in his right hand so he must be very protective over it so clearly he's had it awhile and doesn't like to go without it. After about a minute I gave up inspecting him and spoke,

"What's up?" He looked surprised that I had noticed him looking, he must think he's good at being subtle. He narrowed his eyes at me, which were the brightest green I had ever seen, before asking, "That interrogator guy told me that humans didn't know about other species and that only non-humnas's work at this A.E.P.O place? Why are you here?"

"He said that?"

"Yeah?"

His eyes grew wide as my skin turned from a pale pink to a bright green and my hair went from brown to jet black with a blue and pink highlight on the right side of my face, "Guess he didn't mention that half humans work here too?" I asked, grinning at his reaction,

"He did not…" He looked lost for words as I changed back,

"I'm half human and half Vimton" He only nodded, I guess he must of heard of the brutal warriors known as Vimtons to the universe. They saw weakness in every species, an enemy to fight, a person to kill. They would kill anything that moved, they crave for battle and are soaked in the blood of a thousand men. They believe that their race are pure and perfect.

I'm glad I'm only half of that. My mother was one of them, she was the only female warrior as the Vimton society believed that woman made the weapons and the food and tended to the wounded but they should not walk among the battlefields for they don't think like men. Sexist or what?! She joined to prove them wrong and she did for years but then the typical love story happened. Girl meets boy, they're not allowed to be together, they try to keep it secret, they 'accidentally' have a baby and then mother leaves father alone with child without telling child about her true heritage. Then one day when that child was ten years old and in a school assembly she accidentally destroys half the school hall with _her mind. _She finds out the truth, runs away and then is found by an organization that helps her.

Story of my life, literally.

Finally the elevator arrived and we were sent down thirteen floors before we reached were the Lombaxes will be.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

_"__Elevator Six. Arriving." _I really hate the fact that an elevator is constantly announced. We have over 20 elevators around this floor so the voice really does annoy me. Michael glances over at me and laughs at my annoyed face, everyone seems to think it's funny how much the voice annoys me seeing as it doesn't bother them at all. They all have learnt to ignore it but I can't help but notice it, I can't help but notice a lot of things about this place and people but it's a useful skill at times.

We're all crammed around Michaels little desk in the corner, trying to see if we can find any traces of the Lost Hero or any possible alien invasions or signs of a Code 6. That's what we have spent the last few days doing, the past few weeks. Things have been really slow here, there had been no big missions, no invasions or any new people. We had nothing to do except sit and mope around, hoping that something would happen soon before we all died of boredom.

All us Lombaxes, and usually Christine would usually spend this time swapping stories about other agents or past experiences that had happened to us but she ran off about three hours ago to meet with some new guy that had crashed here this morning, that was the first bit of excitement we had had for weeks now "Just got word from upstairs, we're getting a new member of the team" Annie said, looking down at her phone. Both me and Michael groaned, we hated getting new people, even if there was the first interesting thing that had happened, we still had our old habits like hating new people.

"If this guy is like the one before then I might cry. Why do we need a new guy within the team?" I ask them both. Us Lombaxes and Christine made up one team, but we were one member short but we were alright with that as we worked together pretty well, I guess us being the only Lombaxes helped, "No idea" Michael replied, his eyes shut like he was falling asleep. Both me and Annie glanced at him and sighed. Whenever Michael fell asleep he would have terrible nightmares that usually made him bitter for the rest of the day, I guess he still dreams about the original Code 6, I would know seeing as I have the same nightmare,

We poked Michael in the ribs to wake him up before going back to work on Michaels computer, trying to find something to eliminate the boredom. We heard Christine appear behind us, she probably had the new person with her so we didn't bother turning around to greet them, "Guys, this is Ratchet"

_Why do I recognize that name?_

We all just grunted and waved, not looking away from the screen, I couldn't shake off the feeling that I had heard that name before, "Guys, Ratchet's a Lombax." We all shared a look of confusion with each other before spinning around on our chairs, hardly believing that it was another Lombax alive and on this planet of all places.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

They all turned in their chairs. There were only three Lombaxes sat in front of me and Christine. I noticed straight away that two of them were girls and the other one was a boy. That's when it occurred to me that I had only seen one female Lombax before and back then I was still learning about who the Lombaxes were to notice about Angela Cross, "Ratchet, meet Annie, Michael and Katheryn. Don't mind their gawking, they're probably a bit surprised about you know, the whole Lombax thing" Christine gestured towards me and the group. Who could blame them? I would do the same if someone walked up to me ad went 'meet this Lombax that you had no idea existed but they've now crashed on your planet and can't leave so I hope you make friends!'

"Hi, I'm Annie!" The one on the right said, standing up and holding her hand out for a handshake. She was shorter than me (I had noticed walking down here that I was taller than nearly everyone we had walked past. It was kind of weird see that usually I'm smaller than everyone…) and her fur was brown with golden stripes on her arms, the opposite of mine. She had a pair of glasses on her nose covering her big brown eyes and she somehow managed to style her ears into hair that looked like Christine's. She was also wearing a black leather jacket with blue jeans and trainers. I took her hand and shook it, returning her smile.

The male Lombax just nodded and said "I'm Michael". His fur matched Annie's although he had a tail hanging lazily next to his left leg. The golden stripes ran up it and turned into a ball of brown fur at the end of his tail. His ears were perked up but the tips pointed downwards lazily. He almost looked like the male version of Annie except he was wearing a suit instead. I don't know why but the way he was looking at me gave me the impression he didn't like me at all.

The girl sat next to him smiled at me and said, "Don't mind Michael, he's always like this with new people." She stood up and grinned at me even more, "I'm Katheryn Leroux, but you can call me Kath, seeing as we're in the same team!" I couldn't help but grin back at her. Her fur was the same as mine, golden with brown stripes but her eyes were the most amazing deep blue, it was hard not to lose yourself in them. She was wearing what looked like a blue version of my Pilot Suit.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

Ratchet was quite tall for a Lombax. I could tell that he found it weird because Kath told me that in space we're quite short. I wouldn't know that though as I grew up with the Terachnoids in Axiom City and anyone who had seen them would know that they're pretty short. Growing up with them was hard, seeing as no one knew how to care for a Lombax, it was like I was one of their experiments in the massive labs they had at Pollyx Industries, I went there once for a school trip. They studied me growing up, how my body worked, how my mind worked and how I reacted in situations. I think the day the VX-99 attacked and distracted them long enough to let me use an invention of mine to escape was the best day of my life.

Ratchets fur matched Katheryns except that his tail was patterned with brown stripes, leading down to a giant puff of sandy fur. Only male Lombaxes had tails, me, Katheryn always mess around with Michaels whenever he's in a bad mood, seeing as that's the funnest time to annoy him. He doesn't find it funny at all but we find it hilarious.

His eyes were a bright emerald green and hard to look away from. He was wearing a grey holoflux armor with light blue lights on his back and some kind of harness on his armor and had a pair of black mechanic gloves with grey fingertips on his hands and a brown pilot's cap. In his right hand he was holding on to a blue and grey omniwrench that looked like it could double as a weapon.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

I sat there as Katheryn, Annie, Christine and Ratchet talked among themselves, telling Ratchet about the team and what we do here at A.E.P.O.

I honestly couldn't deal with having another new agent around here, especially a male one. I'm fighting for Katheryn among the other guys now, I don't really want another one to fight with for her, _especially _not a Lombax. It was alright when Erik was around because he and Kath are family but now he's gone I've got no one to talk with were Kath won't be the topic for discussion. I don't know what the other guys see in her, was it her personality? Is there something about the way you can lose yourself in her eyes if you stare too long?

Oh god, I'm doing it again. I do this with every guy we meet. Think that he's gonna develop a crush on Kath. This Ratchet guy could be different? I mean he's a male Lombax, I'm not fully surrounded by girls anymore? I suppose I could try and make an effort with him?

My ears perk up when I hear Christine say, "The Lost Hero". The Lost Hero is my specialty. Ratchet looks confused and asked her,

"Who's the Lost Hero?" I suppose if I'm gonna try and be this guy's friend I better step in now,

"The Lost Hero is an unknown hero who has done many good deeds but has many trying to kill him" Ratchet looks genuinely surprised I just spoke,

"What kind of good deeds?" He replied, sitting down on the empty chair next to him,

"Some call him the savior of Polaris, Bogon and Solana. Defeater of Doctor Nefarious, Tachyon and The Prog twins." I tell him.

"They call him the Lost Hero because people say he's lost to himself. Weirdest thing? No one can remember his name." Christine continues,

"If the Lost Hero were here on Earth, many aliens would happily obliterate the planet. Just to destroy one person." Annie finishes. Ratchet begins to nod,

"What happens if you found him first?" He begins moving his chair side to side, his tail following his movements,

"Protocol 10" Annie replies leaning against the desk,

"What's Protocol 10?" Both Ratchet and Katheryn asked at the same time. We had forgotten that Kath was only Level 5 and that very limited knowledge about the Lost Hero, everything we had just said was new to her as well as Ratchet. They both looked at each other and laughed at the fact they said the same thing at the same time.

Well, look's I've got another person to fight for her.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

They hadn't told me anything of what they just said.

They didn't know what I knew.

They didn't know that I had always known who the Lost Hero was.

_That's why you recognized Ratchet..._

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

I now had to act like I knew nothing about this guy. That I didn't know that he was a Lombax. That he had a sidekick called Clank (I had to fight the urge to tell them what I told Clank, that he was never a side kick.)

I had only been here a day and I've put this place in danger_by accident. _

So here I stand, unable to leave and forced to live a lie.

Me.

Ratchet.

The Lost Hero.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**So what will happen to Ratchet as he begins to adjust to life on Earth?**

**I'm ****tempted for the next chapter to happen after a few weeks of Ratchet on Earth. How he's hiding his secret, how Kath deals with knowing who Ratchet is and not telling him that she knows.**

**ALSO GUYS I am aware that I counted Erik and Eve in the Lombax count but never said what happened and why they're still in the count but not actually present.**

**Eve and the accident might be next chapter as Ratchet's first 'big mission' on Earth?**

**DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW!**

**NEXT:**

**Ratchets Turn Part 1: Code 6**


	3. Ratchets Turn Part 1: Code 6

**Hello there :)**

**TO ALL YOUR QUESTIONS I HAVE ONE ANSWER: You'll find out soon enough…**

**So this chapter is the beginning of a story arch that I think will go on for about 4 chapters. Maybe more, maybe less.**

**Well, what are we waiting for? CHAPTER 3 EVERYONE!**

**Ratchets Turn Part One: Code 6**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

It's been a month since we met Ratchet and he's been settling in great. Every so often he'll have a shock of some sort, like when he found out that humans don't have spaceships or hover cars and there were no robots here. He would usually call them animals and then try to get his head around it.

It was amusing to watch.

We had grown close quickly in these past 2 weeks. Mainly because we shared the same curiosity in what Protocol 10 was and why Michael seemed to really hate Ratchet.

_"__What's Protocol 10?" We both asked at the same time. Being Level 5 I didn't know everything they knew. They had more intel, more information on why we seek the Lost Hero and what happens if A.E.P.O found him first. Now, I was more curious for Ratchets sake. He IS the Lost Hero and he's probably just realized it himself_.

_They all glanced at each other and then looked at us (Well, Michael more glared then looked). Christine just shrugged her shoulders and said "Classified."_

_"__But, what we can tell you is that he has a sidekick of some sort. It's a little Robot called 'XJ-0461' but apparently the Lost Hero and most of the universe calls him Clank. We're trying to see if we can communicate with Clank, ask him if he knows where the Lost Hero is or more tell us who he is" Annie told us. I could see Ratchet nodding along like he was listening but I could tell he was a million miles away._

Christine assigned me as Ratchets supervisor. I helped him settle in, learn Earths ways and how to basically live on this planet. He's adjusting slowly but I can tell he misses Solana and Polaris.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

I've been here a month now. One stinking month.

I mean, this place is great. Annie's great, Christine's great and Katheryn is great.

But, I hate Michael.

Like literally there are times were I would happily swap him for Dr. Nefarious.

Or even Qwark.

He just seems so evil towards me. I don't know what I did but he just seems to hate me.

Also, this place doesn't have any spaceships or even hover cars.

Help. Me.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

Taking Ratchet down to the training room was interesting. I was told by the Level 10's that I had to assess his skills and give him a ranking to determine what Level agent he would become.

I had explained it all to him on the way down to the basement. I would assess him in 3 different areas: His skill with a gun, his fighting skills and his thinking skills. He started grinning when I explained about the gun and fighting. Guess the guy had some skills or some weird love to getting beaten up by a girl.

The training room is my favorite part of the building. It's like a massive warehouse with training equipment dotted around. There's a sealed off section on the right side where you can fire weapons. My favorite was hand-to-hand combat with the holograms. They hit you but you don't feel the pain in anyway. It's kind of neat.

We walked out the elevator into the training room, "Smells like socks and sweat in here" Ratchet sniffed. I sniffed as well, I had never noticed that before. Ratchet suddenly clapped his hands, making me jump, "So? Where do we begin?"

"Why so eager?" I asked. Most new recruits hated assessment,

"I like shooting things" He grinned,

"I guess then we can start with weapons, then do the mind assessment thingy then the han-"

"Mind assessment?"

"That's what everyone calls it. It's a test to see how you would react to certain situations"

"Alright"

"Ok then. After that we'll look at your combat skills"

He gave me another grin, "Neat"

I'm calling that grin of his the 'Ratchet grin of strange eagerness'.

We headed over the weapons room. The back wall was covered in different kinds of weapons. From bows and arrows to different kinds of the Nightmare Box. Ratchets eyes grew bigger and bigger with every weapon he looked at, "Pick one. You'd be best picking the gun you're best at. Remember I am assessing you, so impress me."

He did.

Normally new people were so shaky about holding a gun that they can't get it off the wall but Ratchet was very different to the others. As soon as I told him to pick a gun he grabbed the combustor of the wall. He moved it from hand to hand as I started up the hologramatic target system. All of a sudden Ratchet became someone else. He hit every target either in the heart or the head and he didn't miss one.

When the program ended and Ratchet had ran out of ammo my mouth was wide open and I was shaking my head, "I'm not supposed to tell you this but I think on your shooting alone you could be at least Level 2."

He gave the now famous grin and said, "One question?"

"What?"

"Did I beat Michael?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

On the day of Ratchet's assessment I couldn't help but watch, neither could Annie or Kath. We all huddled around the CCTV monitors watching as Christine was telling him to pick a gun. Annie leant over my shoulder to get a better view, "Bet you $20 he's gonna be terrible." Me and Kath both looked at Annie, "Yeah? Well, $40 says he's good" Kath shot back,

"You're on" I betted Kath, "If he's crap you owe both me and Annie here $40 each"

"And if he's good?"

"Me and Michael have to give you $40 each"

"Deal" We all turned to the screen when we heard the target system booting up.

By the time the system was shutting back down we were all stunned at what we had just seen.

That's when it hit me,

"He beat my score. He's beaten all our scores"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"Did I beat Michael?" I couldn't help but glance at the CCTV camera above Ratchet's head. I knew they were watching so I couldn't help but tell Ratchet the truth, "Yeah you did" I nodded towards the camera. Ratchet turned around to see what I was nodding at and gave the camera a thumbs up when he spotted it.

Looks like he isn't dumb either.

We started making our way towards the testing room for his thinking assessment when my phone started ringing.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

So far the assessment was going great. I had beaten Michaels score on the shooting range and set a new high score in my team on my first go. It was going great and we still had to units to go.

We were on the way to my thinking assessment when Christine's phone rang, "I'll just be a minute" She said looking at the caller ID, "I'll wait here" I told her as she walked off. I only heard her end of the conversation,

"Hello? This is she. What? What do you mean? He's here with me" She was looking my way, obviously meaning me, what could this person want with me? Unless it was one of the other Lombaxes or that interrogator guy then I don't know who else, "We've only done the shooting? He can't go out on the field until I know if he can manage. I understand. See you in about an hour, Sir." She hung up and walked back over, "What's up?" I asked her, pretending I hadn't heard the conversation,

"That was Agent Wellston. You won't know him but he's a Level 10. We've got a situation that involves you and Katheryn and the rest of us"

"What?" Do they already know? Please tell me they don't know I'm their Lost Hero yet…

"I can't tell you yet. But, luckily for you this got you out the thinking assessment and we've got speed our way through the fighting. I've got no time to load you up with a hologram so you and me will have to fight." She started making her way towards some mats in front of us,

"I'm sorry? What?" She grinned at me,

"What? Are you afraid to hit a girl?" She teased me,

"No, no way. I mean I've hit plenty of girls..." Wait a minute... "That sounded better in my head…"

All of sudden out of nowhere she punched me in the jaw, "What was that for?!" I asked her, cupping my cheek and standing back up, "Come on, chicken. Fight me" She snapped, putting her fists in front of her face like a professional, "Wait! Wait, I have a question!" I put my hands up in a defensive way. She rolled her eyes and stood back up straight, "What?"

"Do you have an omniwrench anywhere?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

We made our way up to the 20th floor. We had just been called from Agent Wellston saying that it was a code 6.

Code 6 meant one thing and one thing only,

Eve.

When we got there we were met by Ratchet and Christine, "What's he doing here?" Michael asked, nodding towards Ratchet,

"Wellston asked for him to be here. Apparently this involves Ratchet and Katheryn mostly." Kath nodded before grabbing Ratchets arm and leading down the glass corridor towards the briefing office, "Is it really a Code 6?" I whispered to Christine as we made our way down,

"We'll soon see"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**So? Why is Eve a Code 6? More importantly, what is a Code 6?**

**FIND OUT SOON IN **

**RATCHETS TURN PART TWO: THE DEVICE**

**Don't forget, your reviews are great so keep 'em coming!**


	4. Ratchets Turn Part 2: The Device

**Hello lovely people :) So this story is now a week old (Woohoo!) and I wanna thank everyone for the support on this story so story so far! As a thanks, here's a new chapter!**

**Ratchets Turn Part 2: The Device**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

I pulled Ratchet towards the briefing office with the rest of the group following us down the glass corridor.

The one thing I hate about Code 6. They will get personal.

The first one was personal.

Mainly because I was the first one.

When we reached the office I barged right in, not even bothering to knock. The Level 10's glanced towards me before all their attention turned towards the unfamiliar Lombax behind me, "So you must be Ratchet" Agent Wellston said, standing up from the long narrow desk in the middle of the room and walking towards me and Ratchet at the door, "You must be Agent Wellston" Ratchet replied, Wellston nodded, shaking Ratchet's hand. The rest of the group had finally caught up behind us, "So, what is it this time?" I wanted to get this Code 6 over with quickly,

"Wait, before I inform you of the mission we need to explain what a Code 6 is to Ratchet here." Wellston replied. I had forgotten that Ratchet had no clue what a Code 6 was and why it's personal to me, "Michael and Christine here can explain it to you." Christine and Michael glanced at each other before heading to the front of the room, right in front of the glass wall,

"The first Code 6 began as a simple rescue mission. A Lombax had been kidnapped and was being experimented on" Christine began. My mind reeled back to the day when a pair of massive gloved hands forced me to keep my mouth shut and eyes covered as I was bundled into the back of a car, for a 14 year old girl who had never left her home planet until that day, it was the most terrifying thing that could happen, "The experiments were to try and create the perfect soldier to conquer the planet and with time, the universe" Christine carried on, glancing towards me,

"How were they going to do that?" Ratchet asked,

Everyone in the room glanced towards me, "With a Device."

"Did you save the Lombax?"

"Well, she did just drag you into the room so, yeah." Annie replied. Ratchet turned towards me,

"You're the soldier?" He asked me, looking confused,

"Yes and no. She's got the device installed" Wellston mointied for me to show Ratchet the device. I wanted to run out the room, I was ashamed about my device. It made me different, it made me feel like a weapon.

With a deep breath, I lifted my shirt to show the robotics installed on left side

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

My eyes grew wider as she revealed the device. It was fitted in her left side, running from below her chest down to her waist. It was silver with purple lights blinking all over, "What does it do?" I asked the group, I could tell that Katheryn was ashamed of it and I didn't want her to feel exposed,

"Leroux? Care to give a demonstration?" one of the agents asked Katheryn. It sounded more like a demand than a request. She gave a small nod, shuffling so she was by the window where Christine and Michael were stood, looking at her with concern in their eyes. Everyone stood at the sides of the room, looking between the wall opposite Kath and at Kath, like they were all waiting for something.

Out of nowhere, a target appeared on the wall and a look of pure rage came over Katheryn as she fired a blast of purple looking energy _out her hands. _The target blew up in a cloud of purple smoke.

The agents surrounding us began to clap and sit back down before I decided to speak up again, "So, that thing gives you the power to shoot energy ball things out your hands? That's pretty cool!" Kath smiled, obviously she usually gets bad comments on it,

"The exper-" Michael began before Annie interrupted him,

"The device is also her heart. Like a life support system, I guess it was in case she tried to kill the operators."

"So how come you're not a soldier for some evil person?" I asked Kath,

"I was saved. At this point I was only 14 so I couldn't save myself. There was complications during the experiments, I guess because my body was still developing my heart couldn't take it. In the end they made it that my device would be my heart as well as my weapon. Then one day, I was saved. I'm guessing Christine told you about Eve? My sister? Well, she was an agent at the time, she had ran away from where me and Erik were hiding"

"Hiding?"

"From Tachyon. Anyway, she must of found me because out of nowhere there was a load of explosions and gunfire. Eve and Michael came into the room but my kidnapper was there as well, so Eve decided that the only way to save me was to do a trade."

"Wait, a trade?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

Katheryn leant against the glass table, facing Ratchet. She told him about the day that me and Eve saved her. I closed my eyes as I remembered the day that broke me,

_"She's gotta be here somewhere!" Eve shouted over the explosions and gunfire behind us. We had searched in 9 rooms so far, looking for Eves little sister, "She could be on the research level" I yelled back,_

_"How do you know about a research level?"_

_"It was on that map we found!" We ran forward, carrying our Alpha Disruptors n front of us, prepared to shoot anyone who got in our way of saving Katheryn. _

_We ran up 3 floors until we got to the research level, we could hardly hear the fight going on below us, it was almost peaceful, "She's gotta be here somewhere, her trackers last known position was this building!" She began pulling the first lab apart,_

_"We'll find her. I promise." Eve couldn't give up now. Her face was covered in tears of frustration. I walked over to her and hugged her close. She wiped her face clear and then we heard it. The scream that sounded like a teenage girl, "KATHERYN!" Eve yelled, running out the lab, trying to pinpoint the screams location. _

_We ran down several corridors until we came to one that lead to what looked like an operating theatre in hospitals. Except it was filled with what looked like torture instruments and scientific tools instead of medical tools. In the middle sat in what looked like a dentists chair was Eve's little sister. Behind her was a... human? It was a tallish man with no hair. He still looked menacing, even with a pair of glasses balanced on the tip of his nose. Both me and Eve pointed our guns at him. He grinned at us, "Shoot me. She dies." He said pointing at Katheryn. It looked like he struggled to speak in Earth english, "How?" Eve asked, trying to seem threatening but even I could hear the tremble in her voice,_

_"I make solider. Soldier with death switch. She have a weak heart. I make trade for girl?" He was already annoying me but if I shot him, Katheryn would die and Eve would kill me,_

_"Name your price" Eve replied. Was she really prepared to negotiate? This guy looked like a lunatic, he did steal a 14 year old girl?_

_"You. You have strong heart. I take you, she safe" The lunatic stated. I began to shake my head, prepared to fight this guy to save Katheryn but Eve decided to do the worse thing, _

_"Deal."_

That was the most awful moment of my career. When the girl I loved sacrificed herself.

"The trade was an awful one. Eve for me." I heard Katheryn reply to whatever Ratchet just asked. I must of been in a daydream for awhile because Annie was nudging me, "You okay?" She whispered,

"I'm fine, just remembering" I whispered back.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"Eve Leroux traded herself in so that Katheryn here could live. They managed to complete and create the soldier they were looking for, but Eve turned against them. She killed them all and has been trying to hunt us down ever since." I told Ratchet,

"So a Code 6 is Eve?" Ratchet figured out,

"Bingo" I said pointing at Ratchet,

"Wait, why is she after you guys? From the sound of it she really cares about you guys?" Ratchet said, sounding really confused again,

"Her Device did something to her brain. I'm guessing the Lunatic as we call the guy who conducted the experiments, made every A.E.P.O agent a target, seeing as we basically destroyed his hide out to get to Kath." I told him before turning towards Wellston, "What's the problem this time then?" I asked him,

"We've had a sighting. Looks like she's coming out the shadows" When the word shadows left his mouth a Level 3 Agent burst open through the door, "Sir, we've just received a transmission from the Code 6, she wants to talk to her sister and her sister's team. She also says bring to the newbie?" He exclaimed. Everyone began murmuring between themselves as me and the Lombaxes followed the Agent towards the transmission room.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

The transmission room is basically a room filled with computers that hundreds of Agents sit in front of, trying to hack into several different transmissions that we might find useful. At the end of the room is one massive screen, for when a transmission is broadcast throughout the A.E.P.O network.

We ran into the room and almost crashed into Michael, who was at the front of the group, as he stopped in his tracks in front of the screen.

Filling up the screen was the face of pure evil. In Lombax form.

Eve Leroux had finally stepped out the shadows.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**So, we now know what a Code 6 is...**

**At the moment I'm planning what the next story arc will be after RT (Ratchets Turn) is over. I think you guys will like it, then you'll wanna kill me when you read the ending of the next story arc. Then you'll love me again.**

**So, don't forget to review!**

**NEXT TIME: **

**Ratchets Turn Part 3: Catch Me If You Can**


	5. Ratchets Turn Part 3: Catch Me

**S'up guys :) So I decided to be nice and give you part 3! I'm writing this on my new laptop so I apologize for any spelling errors (I'm still getting use to the new keyboard)**

**Also, I've changed the rating to T because I've realized there will be stuff like alcohol in it (Ratchet's gotta go to a bar at some point!) and sometimes there will be bad language, basically stuff like that PLUS VIOLENCE. **

**QUICK NOTE FIRST: Ratchets true identity won't be revealed for a while (in case you thought this is it)**

**Ratchets Turn Part 3: Catch Me if You Can**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

A chill ran down my back as I stared at the blood red eyes on the screen. That was another effect of the Device, it gave Eve the most evil red eyes I had ever seen.

The room fell silent as everyone turned their heads to the infamous Code 6 that filled up the main screen, she smirked at the attention before her eyes fell to the group of Lombaxes at the front and the green Vimton (I hadn't noticed Christine change forms until now, she must of done it when we were on our way here). She gave a harsh grin when she noticed her sister at the front, stood next to her is Ratchet, who Eve probably called 'newbie' in her message, "Well, well, well isn't this interesting? I have a new Lombax to play with!" She began. Her voice was so calm and almost... elegant?

"Alright Eve, what do you want?" Christine asked,

"Oh look, she made herself all green and scary to try and make me run away! How sweet!" Eve mocked. Whatever happened in that lab, the girl who was prepared to die just to save her sister is gone and this creature of evil had taken it's place,

"I just wanted to say hello to your new little friend!" Her gaze shifted from Christine to Ratchet, who was surprisingly calm like dealing with evil psychopaths was an everyday occurrence. He walked forward without showing any signs of fear and gave a boyish smirk,

"So, usually at this point of a conversation the bad guy gives a monologue about how evil they are and no one can stop them. Of course, you don't seem to be like the others so I'm just gonna ask what we're all thinking, are you gonna try to destroy this place? Or is it good old fashioned galactic denomination? Because I gotta say, it's kinda getting old? I mean, isn't everyone doing that these days? Come on, be original!" Ratchet remarked. I could see most of the people in the room smirked or laugh a little under their breaths.

Eve gave a snort and began to shake her head a little, "Oh, look at the little guy! Oh wait I forgot, you're tall now! Just wanted to tell you that I've got a little...present for you dear Lombaxes, a little something from me to welcome Ratchet!" The camera panned over a brick wall to a glass prison cell and inside was, "Erik?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

Ok, even I have to admit that I was impressed with Ratchet to speak to Eve like that. Nearly everyone here is scared of her. She just let it roll off her back. I didn't listen to her remark back until Katheryn spoke to whatever had Eve had just said, "Erik?". My eyes flew to the screen and sure enough was the thought-to-be-dead Lombax. He looked up and the camera to see who Eve was talking to and his ears perked up when he saw us. He tried to stand up and couldn't because of the chains behind his back, keeping him close to the glass floor.

Katheryns face went from calm to shocked to angry in a matter of seconds, "Alright Eve, explain yourself." She spat out, her eyes becoming hard and menacing. She didn't shout or scream she just spoke in cool calm tone but you could tell that Kath was now an explosion waiting to happen. Her sister let out an evil grin, "I wanna test the new guy out" she nodded towards Ratchet, indicating that she meant him, "I've heard about him, thought it would be nice to see his skills from myself!"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET  
><strong>

What did she hear? Does she mean about my skills or...

Did she mean the Lost Hero?

I held my breath as she kept talking. I had grown to like it here now, sure Clank wasn't here and there was no way to get in contact with him but looking past that I had made quite a home here. It was also a nice break from my reputation as a intergalactic hero. Here, I'm just Ratchet the Lombax with skills in shooting. They weren't going to call me if the planet was in danger, they weren't going to beg me to save the cosmos and they certainly wouldn't expect me to save the universe.

I almost don't wanna go back to home.

"-thought it would be nice to see his skills for myself!" Inwardly I sighed in relief. She clearly knew nothing about me and the Lost Hero.

I frowned at the screen. How did she know about my skills? Unless... "You've got access to the CCTV." I stated. It was obvious now that I think about it. She appeared _after _my shooting test, like she was waiting to see if I was the right opponent, "Looks like he's not dumb either, unlike everyone else in this place." She said, looking at everyone around the room through the camera,

"So, what do you want me to do?" Katheryn grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the screen,

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She whispered. Clearly she was fuming about her brother being captured by her own sister. He needed to be rescued for both of them, "Relax, rescue missions are kinda my thing." I whispered back before realizing I said they were my thing, meaning I had done them before,

"What?" She asked,

"What?" Nice move Ratchet, great comeback...

"Listen, if you think you know what you're doing then Christine must of hit you pretty hard in the head during the fight assessment."

"What makes you say that?"

"She's insane but she's also clever. Do you think you're really capable of bringing her down?" I think if I can bring down Tachyon I can bring down an insane Lombax with some device thing. Of course I can'y say this out loud so I just shrugged before walking back over to the screen that was now showing a bored looking Eve, "What do you want me to do?" I asked again. She smirked before replying, "Catch me if you can."

The screen turned black as she ended the transmission.

What the hell am I suppose to do?!

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

The transmission cut out and we all turned to Ratchet, expecting him to know what to do.

Why? We hardly knew what he could be capable of, he might fail and get Erik killed. Although at the same time there was a chance he could know what he was doing and be able to save Erik.

He stood there scratching the fur behind his ear before snapping his fingers and pointing towards Annie, "Can you trace that transmission?" He asked her, clearly trying out an idea,

"Nope. She must of erased the data." She responded, tapping the keys at one of the monitors,

"Thought she would" He nodded,

"How could you of known that?" Michael snapped. I still have no idea why these two hate each other,

"Because every enemy has a secret base" Ratchet snapped back like it was obvious,

"No kidding" Michael shot,

"But, it's not about knowing where the base is, it's about knowing what it looks like." Ratchet shot back,

"What are you saying?" Annie asked trying to break up the fight that was threatening to happen between the two Lombaxes. Ratchet finally looked away from Michael and grinned at Annie, "She showed us Erik, right? In doing that she showed us some of her base!" He exclaimed, proud of himself.

His dropped when we all still looked confused, "Christine, does this place record all the transmissions that come in?"

"I think so?" I told him, wondering what he was getting at,

"We need to watch it again"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

After disconnecting the CCTV so Eve couldn't see us, we all gathered around the massive TV screen in Christines office for when she gets private transmissions from the Director. She inserted the tape into the player as Ratchet stared at the remote, trying to figure out how to use it. Michael watched Ratchet and stood there trying to not laugh at the confusion on Ratchets face. I walked over to him and took the remote from his hand, "Let me" I whispered. He looked grateful as I stood towards the screen, watching the transmission play again,

_"Oh, look at the little guy! Oh wait I forgot, you're tall now! Just wanted to tell you that I've got a little...present for you dear Lombaxes, a little something from me to welcome Ratchet!" _The camera began to turn towards where Erik was imprisoned. I held my breath, hoping I wouldn't have to watch this part again,

"PAUSE IT!" Ratchet shouted, pointing at the screen. My finger flew quickly to the pause button, letting out a sigh of relief that I wasn't going to have to watch the torment of Erik. Ratchet ran up to the now paused screen, "Look! We can see part of the base!"

"Wow, a piece of wall and floor and oh look! A window that's covered up!" Michael mocked,

"Exactly!"

"Ratchet, he was being sarcastic..." Christine told him quietly,

"I know, but he's right!"

"What?" Annie said what we were all thinking,

"Look in this window!" He told us, grabbing the remote back out my hand and quickly finding the zoom button,

"There's a reflection! It look's like an empty warehouse and on the opposite wall is an uncovered window if we could zoom into that, we can figure out where she is!" We all ran over and looked,

"It's in a forest! I can track down all empty warehouses in the world and then see if we can find a match!" Christine claimed. Ratchet looked triumphant. They all probably thought it was because he figured all this out but I knew it was because he managed to do it without Clank helping him, like it would usually be.

Annies phone beeped with a message just as she was about to leave, she looked at it before grinning, "No need to go through all that databases and stuff. Tech have got something to show you!" She said before running towards the elevator. We all glanced at each other before following behind her.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE  
><strong>

When the elevator finally got down to the Tech labs Annie was practically dancing with excitement. It's funny how much stuff like this excites her, whatever this stuff is. I guess that's what happened when you're raised by Terachnoids, you get excited at sciencey things. She ran over to a a work station where a Tharpod was inspecting what looked like a holo-map, "Ok Annie, please explain what this is-"

Annie opened her mouth to be begin before Ratchet indicated for her to stop again, "-in non-geek speak!" he finished. I had to stifle a giggle at Annies face when she was trying figure out what to say, "Well it's a, urr, it's a tracker thingy?" Ratchet nodded, indicating that she was on the right track,

"Basically it works like a bio-scan. Unlike a bio-scan though, it scans for a certain trace of DNA. For example-" Out of nowhere she suddenly pulled a piece of fur from the back of Michaels head, "Ow!"

"It's for scientific purposes!" She placed the piece of brown fur on to the DNA scanner. It made a few noises before lighting up, "Look at this! It has become a map that tracks where ever Michael is!" We leant over and looked at the map with a single red dot pulsing right where Michael was on the map,

"That's great but how can we use this to find Erik?" I asked

"I was looking around the lab a little while ago and found what looked like tons of sealed test tubes filled with blood. After researching I found that A.E.P.O use to take a sample of blood from agents until 2 years ago. Erik has a blood sample there meaning-"

"Meaning we can use this thing to track his whereabouts!" I finished.

We had done it.

We're one step towards finding Erik.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**DUN DUN DUUUN**

**I'm happy to finally be able to write about Eve and how she now is! I'm gonna say now though, we won't get inside her head... yet.**

**Don't forget to review!**

**NEXT IS THE GRAND FINALE OF RATCHETS TURN BEFORE WE START A NEW STORY ARC!**

**Next: Ratchets Turn Part 4: Fur to Fur**


	6. Ratchets Turn Part 4: Fur to Fur

**SO I WROTE THIS ENTIRE CHAPTER AND THEN MY BLOODY COMPUTER DELETED IT.**

**I BLAME EVE.**

**WHEN ANNOYED BLAME EVE.**

**OR NEFARIOUS.**

**Sorry. Freaked out a bit there... *sigh***

**Ratchets Turn Part 4: Fur to Fur**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

We stood in front of the derelict warehouse. Just me, Katheryn, Michael, Annie and Ratchet. The silence was deafening, the only sound was the frosted trees and out shivering, "We need a plan" Michael said, breaking the silencing.

"I looked at some plans of this building. Two entrances, front and back. Both doors were locked when this place packed up but I bet Eve left the door open." Annie told us all. I knew it was up to me to think of a plan but I was blanking. We have never dealt with a Code 6 like this before. First time it was just a kid, we didn't need to do anything. Now it's an actual person, someone who can easily kill us. What can we do?

Ratchet scratched the back of his head before shrugging, "What we could do is a few of us sneak in the back whilst the other lot go in the front and distract Eve so we can get Erik out?" He suggested. We all stared at him in shock, why hadn't we thought of that? "What? It was just a suggestion!" He said, sticking his arms up in mock surrender,

"No, Ratchet! That's a great plan!" Katheryn reassured him. They all turned to me to see if I had anything to add,

"We'll do that but the question is who is gonna distract Eve?" I asked,

Katheryn nodded, "I will"

"Me too" Ratchet added,

"No way! Chris I think it should be us two. We have more experience and we are higher leveled. We know what we're dealing with!" Michael tried to advise me. I glared at him before asking, "Do we though? Do we know? No, so if these two believe they can deal with Eve then they should." I told him sternly,

"Plus she did single Kath and Ratchet out?" Annie added. Michael glared at us both before shrugging,

"Fine" He said in surrender,

"Good. Are we all ready?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

"You guys ready?" I asked through the radio. Me and Ratchet were leaning against the sides of the door so we couldn't be spotted through the the doors filthy windows,

"_Ready and waiting for you guys." _Annies voice came through the radio,

_"Be careful! Do not fire at Eve unless absolutely necessary!" _Christine added,

"Understood. We're going in!" I said into my radio before turning it off. Me and Ratchet glanced at each other before grinning and turning to the padlock on the door, "Ah. How we gonna get through that?" He asked, pretending like he didn't know. I shrugged,

"No idea?" I replied before 'accidentally' firing a shot of energy at the padlock, "Oops?" Ratchet laughed before forcing the steel door open.

We looked around the vast open space. It was filled with old shipping crates that had grown a layer of dust. There was some sunlight coming through the filthy windows but it was still rather dark. I handed Ratchet a torch before turning my own on. We shone the light around the room. There was only two doors, the front door that me and Ratchet came through and a door that led somewhere, "Urr... Katheryn?" Ratchet said, looking above us.

I turned my torched up to the roof. Above us were at least a hundred offline Mr Zurkons.

"Oh sh-"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

We opened up the back doors slowly, "Is no one else curious to why they were unlocked?" I asked. Christine and Michael looked at me before turning back to where ever the door led. Christine, who was at the front, turned back around, "You're gonna need your torches. It's pitch black in there"

I swallowed as I turned my torch on, I hated the dark. I hated not knowing what was in front of me, or behind me. There could be a person pointing a gun to my head and I wouldn't know. Kids at school use to tease me, telling me that Tachyon was waiting for me in the dark with a negotiator rocket pointing at my head. I was terrified for weeks.

Now, I was looking around a pitch black corridor with just a torch and gun. I know Tachyon is dead but the kids words sill echo in my head. We slowly walked further down, pausing in front of various doors, "Shipping Director, Management, Personal? Must be an old shipping warehouse or something?" Christine questioned,

"I found something!" Michaels voice ran down the corridor to me and Christine. We glanced at each other before running down to Michael.

Michaels torch was pointing to a door that had a message, "Dearest Lombax, welcome to earth. Love, Code 6?" Michael read out loud to us. Christine suddenly began slamming her shoulder into the door, trying to force it open. Both me and Michael began to help.

The wood eventually gave way and the three of us fell into the room on the other side. There was plenty of light inside but I could hardly see anything else as my vision blurred from falling through the door and hitting my head on the cemented floor.

I heard Christine get up and gasp before whispering, "Erik?"

I looked up

I wish I hadn't.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

"Oh sh-" Katheryn began before dropping her torch and turning to run. I followed behind, I did not want to deal with a load of Zurkons. I know what they are capable of and it is something I don't wanna be on the receiving end off.

The doors slammed in our faces whilst a laugh echoed around the room,

_Great it's the nutcase _I thought before turning towards Eve,

"May I just say that the torchlight really brings out the redness in your eyes?" I complimented,

"Look at it, the great Ratchet can't think of something witty so he comes out with garbage!" She replied,

"I don't do well under pressure"

"I noticed" She suddenly stuck out her hand and shot an charge of blue energy at Katheryns stomach. Kath held her stomach, coughed and then collapsed in a heap. I ran over to her and began to check her over, "What the hell did you do?" I half yelled, half questioned Eve. The energy looked similar to what was fired out of Azimuths wrench. If it was the same energy then Katheryn would be dead, I would know. He tried to fire it at me but Clank pushed me out the way at the last minute. Eve sniggered at me, "Don't worry, she's only knocked out. No, I'm saving her death shot for something juicy!"

Sure enough as she said that I managed to find a pulse in Katheryns neck, "Wait, you are gonna kill her in the future but not yet? That makes no sense!"

"It'll make sense to you one day"

I stood up to my (now) tall height and glared at her, "So, what do you want with me?"

"Is that what you asked Vendra Prog? Or did she just come after you? Or Dr. Nefarious? Did you ask him that or did you just try to deal with him first?" I froze, she shouldn't know about Nefarious or Vendra. No one here does, they all believe it was the Lost Hero who went against them and they don't know that I'm him,

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, Lost Hero, don't play dumb with me" She smirked before walking around me, "Hardly seen you without the robot. Well, except those 2 years that he went missing. How'd that happen exactly?"

"How do you know about Clank?" I asked, deciding to stop acting like I had no idea what she was talking about. She knows who I am, how may other know?

"How does anyone? Oh yeah! They don't! Wanna know why?"

"Why?"

"I made them" I looked at her in confusion. How did she make an entire planet forget about one person? "It was simple really. Everyone uses the internet these days, so I put a bug in the WiFi. Someone connected and BOOM!" She yelled, surprising me, "They forget about the little Lombax from Veldin that saved the universe. All that are left of him are the stories. No name, no picture, just stories. Oh, and his little trashcan is remembered but until he sees his friend again, he'll never be able to remember the space rats name"

"Why did you do that? When?" I spat. I could feel the anger boiling inside me. Not only has she made the universe forget me, but she had made Clank forget me.

"Whilst you were crashing. You think you got here in a few hours? Wrong! Lets try a few days! Good ol' cryosleep!" She enthused, "Why did I do it? Because I finally have a worthy enemy" She whispered the last part in my ear. My grip around the omniwrench tightened as I processed what she has said,

"You're a monster"

"Thank you! Oh and dear, if you attempt to kill me, she'll die" She pointed towards Katheryn who was beginning to wake back up, "Oh, and don't worry about my own little robots, they wont hurt you. They were just there to set the scene!" She gestured to the Zurkons. Katheryn had finally woken up and was now trying to sit up. I ran over to help her up, "Bye Ratchet, I'll see you soon!" She blowed a kiss before disappearing. A chill ran down my back as she said that, reminding me of Vendra.

Katheryn squinted around the room before looking at me above her, frozen and staring where Eve was once stood, "What the hell happened?!" She demanded,

"Honestly? No idea."

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

My eyes grew wider as I stared at Erik. He was covered in cuts and dried blood. His eyes were both pleading and filled with joy. He was chained to the wall behind him with thick chains. I looked at his wrists and saw that most of the golden fur on his wrist was black with his blood. He was also gagged so he couldn't talk, just make noises. Christine ran forward and tore the gag out his mouth,

"Christine?" He whispered, tears filling his eyes,

"Erik?" She whispered back, her own eyes filled with tears. I had to try to not roll my eyes at the two of them. I mean I know they were engaged before Erik disappeared but still? I looked over at Annie who was also watching the pair before eyeing up Eriks chains, "Any idea how to get those off?" She asked,

"Only time I haven't had chains is when I had to get new ones" Erik told us, his voice was hoarse from not talking in so long,

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I- um... pulled them out the wall?" Erik grinned. He was still the same guy from before he left, "Couldn't escape though, legs were too weak from not standing up in so long"

"Weakling" I teased,

"How about we chain you up for a year and a half?" He grinned back. He was still my best friend,

"Don't worry we'll get you out of this" Annie told him, before going to inspect the chains,

"I've got a question? How did you guys get past Eve?"

"Katheryn and Ratchet distracted her so we could sneak in and get you out" Christine told her fiance,

"Katheryn and who?"

"You'll see" Suddenly my radio cracked into life,

"_Michael come in! Can you hear me?" _Katheryns voice came through,

"We found him, but he's chained onto the wall and if we get him out he'll be to weak to walk" I informed her,

_"She's just started crying. Where are you guys?" _Ratchets voice took over the radio,

"Look for the door with a message. You'll know it when you see it. How'd it go with Eve?" I asked him,

_"She just spoke about the Lost Hero, saying she's finally found an enemy worth fighting and then disappeared. I have a feeling it was a hologram. Kath was knocked out the entire time. She's ok no- what the hell?"_

"Ratchet? What's happening?"

_"We've just seen the message, through this door right?" _Katheryn had the radio. I turned and looked at the door at their silhouettes,

"Yeah, I can see your outlines through the door" I told the radio,

"And we can hear your voice through the door" Ratchet said coming through the door. Katheryn stopped when she saw Erik, making Ratchet crash right into the back of her, "So, you must be the famous Erik they told me about!" He said going around Katheryn towards Erik.

Erik smiled before saying, "And Christine here failed to mention you're a Lombax. You've gotta be Ratchet right? Annie just mentioned you" Ratchet nodded before looking at the chains with Annie and Christine. I turned around to see a very still Katheryn. She had tears rolling down her cheeks. Erik stopped looking at Ratchet and looked straight at Kath, "Kathy?" He asked,

"Erik?" She whispered falling to her knees in front of him and pulled him into a tight hug,

"If my arms I would be hugging you back" He whispered into her ear. She laughed through her tears.

I decided to give them a moment so I walked over to Annie, who was still inspecting Eriks chains, "How's it looking?" She turned to me in surprise. I guess she didn't hear me walk over, "These chains are... amazing? They are virtually unbreakable."

"What?"

"We would need to apply a ridiculous amount of heat or..." She suddenly turned to Christine who had appeared behind us, "You think you could break these? As a half Vimton you've gotta have some kind of Vimton power, right?" She looked at both of us before replying,

"I think so, but I don't know if it's powerful enough?"

"What are you talking about?" Ratchet asked, appearing next to Annie. I felt irritation stirring inside me, this didn't concern him, he didn't know Erik,

"Guess you didn't tell him?" Annie asked Christine,

"Not yet"

"Tell me what?!"

Christine stood up before swapping to her Vimton form, "You're about to see" Katheryn looked up from hugging Erik. She understood what Christine was going to do and quickly stood up and got away. Erik must of known what was going to happen as he put his wrists next to each other behind him. Christine took a deep breath before closing her eyes and putting her hands in front of her.

Eriks chains snapped off his wrists almost straight away. He sighed in relief before rubbing his wrists and trying to stand, "Anyone wanna explain what happened?" Ratchet asked, a stunned look on his face, "Telekinesis from my Vimton side" Christine put simply. Erik was almost on his feet when he face planted the floor, "Can't stand" He mumbled into the ground,

"Come on big guy" I said before helping him up and putting his arm around my shoulder for support. Annie rushed to his other side to help me support Eriks weight.

Almost as soon as we were out the door we heard it,

_'Don't think you can run furballs'_

We all turned to see an army of Mr Zurkons heading our way

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ERIK**

I looked at Michaels panicked face before yelling, "RUN!". Katheryn, Christine and Ratchet all came into the corridor to see what we were needing to run from. All their eyes grew wide before taking off after me, Michael and Annie.

We ran (me with the support of Annie and Michael) down the corridor, "Ratchet, go to the back of the group! You're the best shot!" Christine yelled to Ratchet who just nodded before stopping so we could all get past and then taking off after us, firing a combuster as we kept going. We kept hearing explosions behind where Ratchet was firing at the Zurkons. I could see the open back door at the end of the corridor, "How much further?" I asked Michael,

"Not much, we've got a plane standing by" I nodded at him. We all nearly froze when we heard the _click click,_

"I'm out! RUN!" Ratchet yelled behind us. We had finally gotten out when I slowed down, half blinded by the sun I hadn't seen in half a year,

"Erik! COME ON!" Christine yelled, pushing me from behind as Michael and Annie pulled me along. We all ran into the dense fog. They all began looking around us when we heard the Zurkons again, '_Don't worry furballs, we only wish to kill you"_

_"_Good, I thought they wanted to do something else. What a relief!" I tried to joke. They all glared at me except Ratchet, who was trying not to laugh.

Katheryn pointed to what looked like a piece of floating metal, "There it is!" We all ran/hobbled over to the metal, that eventually made the shape of a plane. We all piled inside as Annie ran over to the cockpit, "Ladies and Gentlemen, please prepare for take off" She said in a mock-pilot voice before forcing the plane into the sky,

"Next stop, home"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

We made it back to base in one piece and Erik was immediately taken to the medical wing. Turns out he was fine, his muscles were only stiff from hardly using them and he was skinning from hardly eating. It could of been a lot worse. Apparently he didn't have any signs of post-traumatic stress or depression like most get from an experience like this. I had to smile, Erik wasn't like everyone else.

A few weeks had passed when he was finally given his old job back, "You're a doctor?" Ratchet asked when Erik told us,

"One of the best A.E.P.O have!" Erik replied to him. Ratchet and Erik got on really well, much to Michaels annoyance.

A lot of things changed when Erik came back.

Ratchet got a notice saying he had to move out the apartment block that A.E.P.O own for when new Aliens come to earth. At the same time I also received a notice that if a second person didn't move in with me in at least 30 days they would move me from a two bedroom apartment to a one bedroom flat. Seeing as me and Ratchet had grown really close friends it made sense that he just moved into the spare room at my place. So we are now roommates.

Christine and Erik got back together again and were back to planning their wedding. Christine kept dragging me off to dress shops to look at wedding dresses whilst Erik took Ratchet cake tasting. Now Ratchet has an obsession with cake.

Finally, Ratchet was made a Level 4 agent after the Code 6. We're now partners at work within our team.

But, Eve is still out there. It keeps me up at night knowing she's somewhere, waiting for me. For Ratchet.

She'll come back out the shadows again soon.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**So? That's the end of Ratchets Turn!**

**DON'T WORRY EVE WILL RETURN!**

**Don't forget to review!**

**Soon...**

**Turn Around Part 1: What now?**


	7. Blood Part 1: A New Adventure

**MY COMPUTER THE WHOLE CHAPTER AGAIN.**

**FOR ZONI'S SAKE**

**I've always wanted to say that...**

**Here we go again!**

**Also, a big thank you to ratchetthe1s for an amazing idea that got you guys this chapter sooner!**

**Blood Part 1: A New Adventure**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

The combuster felt heavy and foreign in my hand. This was the first time I've actually needed to shoot it at a target. Usually I'm only on missions to provide technical support, not actually engage in combat.

I closed my eyes as I squeezed the trigger. I kept them closed as I kept squeezing the trigger at various targets, not seeing where the shots were going. Eventually my combuster was empty, "Finally, you actually shot something!"

I opened my eyes up at the golden coloured Lombax who the voice belonged too, "Your advice worked, I guess" I told him,

"Thought it would" Ratchet smirked at me. We had been at the firing range for 3 hours, Ratchet was teaching me how to fire a gun accurately and in return I had to answer a question he had for me, "I told you, closing your eyes helps when you're unexperienced with a gun. Of course, you can't do that in actual combat situations. I'll teach you that once you get the basics down" He told me,

"Time for my end of the bargain" I told him. He smiled weakly at me before making sure we were alone,

"It's about what Eve told me about the Lost Hero in the warehouse" He started, lowering his voice. I nodded at him, knowing what he was talking about. He told us about how she had made everyone forget who the Lost Hero is, including Clank, who for us was our only lead. He said about how she put some bug in the WiFi to make us all forget,

"I was wondering, you know how she said about the virus in the WiFi? Would they make the whole universe forget? Or just Earth?"

I stood there thinking about it for a minute, the cogs turning in my brain as I tried to figure it all out. After a minute I came to a conclusion, "Just us, I think. This planet is too backwards compared to the rest of the universe. I mean come on, the furthest a human has been in space is the moon! They are yet to invent long range spaceships and warp drives. They don't even have holo-vision!" He made a face about it as I went on, "Eve would only be able to make all the aliens on Earth forget. She's barely done that! Our memories remain about what the Lost Hero has done, we just can't remember what he looked like or what his name is. Hell, we don't even know if it's a he? Eve could of put something in the atmosphere perhaps? When a spaceship enters the planets atmosphere that virus in the WiFi could enter the systems, affecting everyone on board? Or..." A new thought struck me out of nowhere

"Or?"

"How have I never thought of this before?! She could of put something around the edges of our solar system! A satellites perhaps? It could work like a hypersonic brainwave scrambler?! If a ship passes through the satellite shield everyone on board would forget the Lost Hero!"

Ratchet looked confused at me, "Wait, what about news stories? Stuff like that? You can't erase stuff like that without no one remembering?"

"She must of made it that we can't access stuff like that from here. We would probably need to leave the galaxy to be able to access stuff like that." I guessed, I had never thought of that before. Mainly because we had no idea how we all forgot, "We would need a long range spaceship or a teleporter to get out this galaxy. We don't have either of those yet"

Ratchet began nodding slowly, "So she must of been lying to me when she said Clank also forgot and that there's a bug in the WiFi?"

"Must of. Looks like we've got our lead back" I smiled before walking away and then turning to face Ratchet again, "I don't understand why he doesn't just say who he is?" I wondered out loud before walking towards the elevators.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

I stared after Annie, letting out a sigh of relief after she left. Clank hasn't forgotten me! I felt a weight that I didn't even know was there come off my shoulders. All I needed to do was try and communicate with him again, let him know what's happened to me and see if he can help me get home.

Don't get me wrong, I like it here and there's stuff here for me. The last Lombaxes in this dimension, a break from being a hero and also the bonus of no Qwark, so there was positives to this planet, but I missed my life back in Solana and Polaris. I missed fixing spaceships, I missed Talwyn and Clank and all my friends. I missed it all.

Why did Eve have to do this to me?

_"-Because I finally have a worthy enemy"_

I flinched as Eves words took over my head for the millionth time in the past month since our encounter. I couldn't forget about what she said about having a 'worthy enemy'. It haunted me, following me no matter where I go. Usually words like these wouldn't do this to me, usually I would be puzzled for awhile before going face-to-face with whoever said it. I couldn't understand why Eve was different. Was it because she was a Lombax? An evil psychopath? Or it's because this time there's no escape?

That's why I couldn't tell anyone who I really am, because then they would all _expect _me to defeat her and this one time, I don't think I can do it. With or without Clank.

My phone buzzed with a text in my jeans pockets. I was still figuring out how to use an earth phone, comparing it to phones back in Polaris you would be able to see why I struggle,

**'Oi, Fuzzball! Christine needs us. Meet me in 5 outside conference room - Kath' **I rolled my eyes at the nickname. Katheryn started calling me it 2 weeks ago, of course it's a joke but she doesn't know that it reminds me of Mr Zurkon, which just remind me of Eve again.

I strolled over to the elevator, wondering what Christine has in store for us this time.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"Alright people!" I yelled over the noise. At least 50 agents were gathered in the conference room, wondering why the hell we had all been gathered. They were all told that I needed to talk to them but I had no idea about that as I was told to come here because Erik and Michael needed to talk to me, "SHUT UP!" I screamed over them all. They all grew silent in surprise with my outburst. Of course, it grew noisy again as Ratchet and Kath strolled in, asking why I had called them here.

Michael jumped up onto the glass table that was in the middle of the room, "EVERYBODY SHUT UP!" He yelled over everyone like I had. When everyone grew silent again Michael cleared his throat, "Thank you. Look, obviously we have all been called here for a reason that we couldn't be told over a message" The room grew loud again as every talked at once, "HEY! I'm sure we are probably about to find out. Judging by who's in the room it's a important mission" Michael glared at Ratchet who was still stood near the door with Katheryn, "For some anyway" He finished bitterly. Ratchet glared back at Michael before turning and talking to Katheryn, ignoring the second heated glare from Michael.

The door suddenly swung open again and I prepared myself for another 'What the hell is going on?' from a confused agent, what I didn't expect was the director of A.E.P.O, Leo Shut who is a Markazian and his little board of important people ( I never remember their names, they don't really do anything). Everyone immediately went quiet.

Michael looked around from the top of the table before noticing the Director and 'jumping' off. He fell more than jumped, landing on his rear. I glanced over at Ratchet who was trying not to laugh at the other Lombax. Micheal stood back up and glared at Ratchet for the 3rd time. Director Shut looked between the duo, shaking his head,

"Is something wrong, sir?" I ask him, trying to break the tension that was growing.

"Glad you asked, Agent West. It's to do with a conversation between Miss Annie and Mr Ratchet in firing range" Annie and Ratchet glanced at each other. Everyone in the room turned to the pair in confusion, "Miss Annie came up with a new and brilliant theory about The Lost Hero. If you care to tell us, Miss Annie" He gestured for her to start talking,

"Well, um, Me and Ratchet were discussing how Eve could of made us all forget the Lost Hero using the WiFi, like she told Ratchet here that she did. A new thought suddenly occurred to me that she could of placed satellites in strategic places in the solar system that work like Hypersonic brainwave scramblers that are commonly used with species the mythical Zoni, if they actually exist, and sometimes robots. It would interfere with a persons brainwaves, altering memories like for example, the Lost Hero."

"What about news stories?" Some random agent yelled out. Annie glanced towards Director Shut asking if it was okay to answer the question. He nodded, telling her she could,

"I have a theory. It is possible that Eve has complete control over what we can access from here and what we can't. She might of made it that we can't access anything to do with the Lost Hero, or she's tampered with the news stories, so that they don't include the Lost Hero's name or a photo of them on purpose"

"So we believe all the universe has forgotten him instead of just us?" I thought out loud. Annie nodded at me, confirming my thought before continuing,

"I guess so. Probably so she can play some game with us"

"But why us? Why our galaxy?" Erik asked Annie. I nodded, wondering the same thing when the obvious hit me,

"The Lost Hero is on earth"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

I shook my head, this couldn't be possible! I had been trying to find the Lost Hero for months now and Ratchet asks one question and Annie figures it all out?

Of course this was just a theory, it hadn't been proved yet and if anything, this has made my job slightly easier because I now only have to look on one planet. Of course, I still feel annoyed that it was Ratchet who asked the right question, not me. It wouldn't of annoyed me as much if it wasn't for the fact that this conversation started,

"So clearly," The Director began, "We did a scan of the galaxy and we found 8 satellites placed around the galaxy. We should all thank Annie for coming up with this theory" Annie began to beam. The Director smiled at her as everyone clapped before he went on, "And we should also thank Ratchet for asking the right question that got Annie to think all this!" The applaud got louder, even the Director began to clap, Ratchet smiled a little before pretending to bow. Katheryn laughed, that's when I felt jealousy twist in my stomach. To the point I would happily punch Ratchets smirking little face.

"Anyway, I called you all here to discuss the plan to destroy the satellites and hopefully we all will remember who this Lost Hero is" The Director walked over to the projector where he put up a map of the whole Milky Way Galaxy, "The satellites are stationed in these 8 points" He drew 8 red crosses across the map, some on the furthest reaches of this galaxy to almost touching the sun, "The plan is that 8 teams will go to a satellite, investigate what is on there and then blow the sucker up. The Mathoms will go the satellite closest to the sun as they can stand the temperatures" I glanced over to the bright red creatures with blue pointed tails sticking up in the air in excitement. They are rarely used on missions due to their...insanity? "The Lombaxes, plus Christine, will go to the furthest satellite. You guys are better at space travel" The Director looked at us expectantly, "Any of you guys pilots?" I realized on our team that none of us actually knew how to fly a space ship,

"I am, and a mechanic if that helps?" Ratchet called out. I sighed, of course he could, he can do everything!

"Great! Everyone else stay behind to be assigned into teams, Lombaxes and Mathoms go down to the hanger for briefing. Now!"

We all stood up and left in silence. I glanced around at my team, wondering how everyone was. We had never had a mission before that required us to go in space. Last time I was in space was when I escaped Fastoon on the day Tachyon attacked. I shook my head, trying not to remember the look on my dying mothers face when she told me to go without her. We had no idea where my dad and little sister had gone. My sister had only just been born, a few days old in fact. She was never named. I remember overhearing my dad and a Lombax called Kaden, if my memory is correct, talking about how their children were born at the wrong time and how they would do anything to save them. I don't think my dad manged to save my sister but I had heard before I left that Kaden's son had been saved.

I couldn't help but be reminded of Kaden every time I looked at Ratchet, when I wasn't glaring at him, wondering if he was other Lombax born at the wrong time,

_'Now isn't the time be distracted, Michael' _I thought to myself as the elevator took us down to the hanger.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

"So is everyone clear on what to do?" The briefing robot asked us for the thousandth time. We all nodded again, our necks beginning to grew sore with nodding so much. We had all changed into simple holoflux spacesuits. All of us wearing different colours so we would be able to tell who's who on the satellite. I was wearing a grey suit with a purple light, Ratchets was also grey but with a blue light, Michaels was dark green with a light green light, Annie was in red with an orange light and Christine was in a black suit with a pink light. We all had helmets that matched the suits we were wearing with the same coloured lights.

We all had combusters tucked in our belts and only Ratchet had hold of an omniwrench in his left hand. I could feel nerves pooling around in what was left of my stomach. Of course, I wasn't nervous about going into space again after such a long time, I was nervous that this plan was going to actually work and Ratchet would be remembered and good ol' protocol 10 would be unclassified and put into effect.

We were finally given the nod that told us we could get on board of our ship. It was medium sized and was plain grey with a black stripe along the wings,

"I miss Aphelion" I heard Ratchet mutter under his breath as he walked over to the cockpit. I had heard what had happened to Ratchets ship and felt a great deal of sympathy for him. He told me all about her late one night when we were the night shift. Of course, he didn't tell me the truth because he was being careful to give away about him 'exploring the galaxies, being a hero and saving anyone in trouble'.

I've been thinking a lot recently about telling him I know, just so said he can have someone to talk to. I'm worried though that he won't forgive me for lying to him for the past couple of months. We were pretty close now, seeing as he's my roommate and we work together. If he couldn't trust me then everything would be ruined and I would probably giving the Eve the satisfaction.

I was in a daze when Annie snapped her fingers in front of my face, "We're about to go, get ready for take off" She told me before doing her seat belt up. I shook my head a little to snap myself out of it as I did my own seat belt up. Ratchet was starting the ship up as my nerves got worse and worse,

"Prepare for take off in 3" Ratchet said as the hangers roof opened up so we could take off. Looking out the window on my right I could see the other 7 ships getting ready to take off like us, "2! 1!" Ratchet counted down before taking off.

I closed my eyes as we went through the atmosphere and took off into the stars, ready for our next adventure.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**Better then the other one? As you can tell, the story line has changed dramatically. Even earning itself a new name!**

**Don't forget to review! They all mean something to me!**

**Next:**

**Blood Part 2: Satellite 8**


	8. Blood Part 2: Satellite 8

**So, a part of this story line actually came to me whilst watching Doctor Who so if you watch DW then you might recognize something that appears in this chapter**

**No, it's not the sonic screwdriver.**

**And again, a massive thank you for the reviews! I'm glad it makes more sense now (Thanking ratchetthe1s again!) and you're all enjoying it!**

**Blood Part 2: Satellite 8**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

"We're about 5 minutes away from landing. Get ready" Ratchet called from the pilots seat. Looking at the windshield we could see the satellite in front of us. It looked like a normal space station, nothing suspicious about it at all. Of course, we knew better. We were prepared to have a fight of some kind when we got there, Eve wouldn't leave something like this unprotected. She was insane but she wasn't stupid, she set these up for a reason.

I only wanted to come here to see if I can figure out why I remember Ratchet, unlike everyone else. I wanted to know why I wasn't affected by what ever made everyone forget.

I walked over and sat in the other pilots seat that was vacant. Ratchet glanced over at me and grinned, "You know, you should really keep your eyes on the road" I joked, for a second he looked sad like he was remembering something before smirking,

"I have to say, it feels good to be driving a spaceship again" He said. I gave a small smile before looking out the window again,

"Makes me miss being out there, you know? In the stars" I thought out loud, Ratchet glanced at me again in curiosity,

"You know, I've known you now 4 months now and you still haven't told why you didn't go with the Lombaxes"

"Neither have you" Ratchet opened his mouth again to speak before all the warning lights came on,

"What the hell is happening?!" Christine half yelled behind us, looking around in alarm,

"Either we're under attack or we're having a disco!" Ratchet tried to joke to lighten the mood before realizing his attempted didn't work and turning towards the space in front of us, "Scanner is showing rockets flying towards us. We're carrying too much weight to shake them off!" I yelled at them, the sirens trying to cover my words,

"You know, if we dumped some cargo we could probably sha-" Annie began to say before Ratchet yelled,

"NO! WAI-" Unfortunately for us the ship did what Annie said and ejected us all out the air lock.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

Luckily for us, the satellite had it's own gravity and we all fell to surface, hardly a drop from the air lock. We all landed in a heap, Christines arm hit me in the face and Katheryns leg on my chest, knocking all the air out of me. Annie landed next to me and Ratchet landed on his feet in front of us, using some hover boots to break his landing, "Michael, you look like you've just lost twister" He commented before standing Christine back up and grabbing Kaths hand and pulling her on her feet. I remained lying there, trying to get the air back into my lungs and my nose bleeding from Christines impact,

"What is this place?" Ratchet asked, looking around us I struggled to stand back up,

"Satellite 8. Looks as if it had it's own artificial gravity and an oxygen field" Annie answered, scanning with the hand held scanner e had to bring with us,

"What attacked us?" I wondered out loud, finally standing up and looking at the empty space above us,

"No idea. I can't see anything and the scanner isn't picking up any turrets or weapons of any sort" Annie replied again, looking preoccupied,

"I've got a better question. How the hell are we gonna get off this place?" Katheryn asked. We all looked at each other in alarm,

"The first thing the ship does if it's under attack and there's no life signs on board is go back to earth. We're on our own" Christine informed us, looking almost... scared?

I have to admit, I was feeling a little spooked. We were stuck on the edge of the milky way on a satellite that attacked us with invisible weapons and no hope of escaping. We had no idea what to do in these situations, it was our first off-earth mission. They could have taught us what to do in situations like this at the academy but no, instead they taught us how you can use ball room dancing to assess the security of a building. So useful in this situation, so very useful.

"Maybe Eve comes here sometimes? The weapons could of been for people like us, trying to blow the satellite up but maybe Eve does something to shut them down when she comes here? She could do what we did, you know, except with a more graceful landing" Ratchet glanced over at me trying to stop my nose bleeding where Christines arm landed on it, "There's probably a escape vessel around here" He concluded, looking around at us all.

The others began nodding whilst I began to shake my head, "Impossible" I commented. Ratchet glared at me before asking,

"Got any other ideas?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"Got any other ideas?" Ratchet challenged. Michael glared but remained silent,

"That could explain why I can't detect to weapons anymore. They must believe we're Eve!" Annie responded,

"That's great, but there must be more security than that? You know, cameras, bio-scans, stuff like that?" I questioned,

"True, but we've got holo-guises! We can go in under cover!" Katheryn told me, she looked like she was beginning to form a plan,

"Don't you have to scan the person you're disguising yourself as before using those?" Ratchet asked,

"Not us! We've modified them so that you just have to think of the person you're wanting to disguise yourself as" Annie told him. I looked at Katheryn who looked like she was a million miles away, "Kath? Have you got an idea?" I asked her, bringing her back out her thoughts,

"I could use the disguise and go under cover as Eve? She probably has a security device to scan for her device, in case anyone got this idea before and actually managed to get this far. I could go and pretend I have you all imprisoned?" She suggested.

We all began nodding, "That could work!" Michael exclaimed, Ratchet nodding along side him,

"Well, if these two can agree on something it's worth trying!" Annie joked, earning a glares from both Ratchet and Michael. Me and Katheryn laughed at the pair before getting ready for our plan.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

We walked through the third scanner, holding our breaths to see if it'll catch me out. It kept silent as I walked through, leading the rest of the team behind me in some chains we found near the entrance, "Is no one a bit suspicious about them just being there?" Michael had asked. We all shrugged and kept going.

Eves hair kept falling in my face as we went through endless corridors, looking for the main control room. Every so often we would pass a robotic troop and cross out fingers that they wouldn't notice their leaders strange behavior and the fact she had no idea where she was going, "Reminds me of Nefarious's base" Ratchet commented under his breath, thinking no one had heard him.

After walking for what seemed like an entirety we finally reached a massive control center, "This must be it" I spoke,

"HALT!" A robot yelled from behind us. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, they had found us,

"Kath, remember you look like Eve right now. Act like her too" Ratchet whispered behind me. I gave a slight nod,

_"I can do this" _I thought to myself as I took on an annoyed face and turned around, "Excuse me? Did _you _just tell _me _to halt?!" I demanded, Eve's voice coming out my mouth,

"I'm sorry commander, it's just because an A.E.P.O ship flew past here and now you're leading these... _pests. _Even your own sister is here, I need to know why" I glared towards Christine, who was wearing a holo-guise to look like me,

"I'm doing what I always do. It's time we showed A.E.P.O we mean business. I'm taking these pests to the control room, show them what we're working on, taunt them and what not and then? Execute them" I sneered at them all as they all pretended to struggle again,

"The usual, Commander?"

I gave an evil smirk, "Of course". The robot nodded before walking away. I gave a sigh of relief, glad I managed to convince him I was Eve,

"Good job" Ratchet whispered. I smiled before turning towards to door,

"Let's see what Eve is up too"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

Katheryn lead us into the room before sealing the door behind us. We immediately took our chains off, rubbing the areas on our wrists then they were rubbing,

"Hey, Annie? You think you can hack this computer and see what Eve has been up to?" Christine asked, standing near a computer station,

"Sure" Annie replied, walking over to the computer. Michael and Katheryn went over as well. I stood near the door, looking around the massive control room. It looked like the one Nefarious had in his space station with all the Terachnoids, except here there was boxes full of things dotted around and a random door on the otherside of the room.

Knowing we would need an escape route I decided to check out the other door, there was a little window in the middle of the door. I looked through and saw two things, the first one was the most impressive escape vessel I had seen, in fact it looked exactly like the one me, Clank, Nefarious and Qwark used to get off the Phonica Moon after meeting Dr. Croid. Feeling a little confused by this I looked down to see a person chained to the barriers, "Kath? Katheryn?!" I called out, my eyes not leaving the person, "What?" Kath asked in Eves voice, walking over to where I was stood. I pointed to where the guy was chained up,

"Oh my god" She let out. We looked at each other in confusion, her bright red eyes meeting my green eyes. For a second it was liked time slowed down as we just looked at each other, _"Snap out of it!" _my voice over took my own brain, I blinked as time went back to normal,

"Guys? I've managed to find two things on here that Eve has been working on!" Annie called out, both me and Katheryn gave the prisoner another look before turning towards Annie, I was still feeling confused to what had just happened between me and Katheryn, "What have you found?" I asked,

"It's really interesting actually! Really impres-"

"ANNIE!" We all said at the same time, snapping her out her thoughts again,

"Sorry. The first thing she is working on is on some guy. His name is Sam, but his species call him 'The Warrior'. Apparently he can tell a persons weakness and use it against them in battle. She's trying to use him as a weapon" Both me and Katheryn looked over to the door where the prisoner was,

"Yeah, we know where he is" I said, they all turned to look where I was looking,

"That solves that. Anyway, the other thing she is working on is blood control. She's been working with..." Annies voice trailed away as she read what was on screen,

"Annie?" Christine asked, sounding worried about what Annie could say next,

"Michael, I'm so sorry" Annie began, we all looked between Michael and Annie. All of us confused, why was she sorry? "Eve has been testing it with, uhm, Lombax blood. She must of found some somewhere and this is why I'm sorry for Michael. She's using the blood of an Iris Green and Henri Green..."

Michaels eyes grew wide, his ears fell as he began to mumble, "no, no, no"

Judging by the way Michael was reacting I could only guess it was his parents. I immediately felt sorry for him, I knew what it was like to find out how your parents died. Of course, in my case, I didn't know them. A few months ago I found out that Michael was 10 when Tachyon attacked, he knew them, he had memories of them.

Michael sat down heavily in a nearby seat, his legs giving up beneath him, "Keep going" He whispered, hiding his face in his hands,

"My guess is she is gonna try and control Michael at some point. Using genetics or something? It it is most likely that if both Iris and Henri have the same type blood, so will their offspring, which is Michael"

"No" Michael spoke up again,

"No?"

"Does it say any other Lombaxes on there? Or is it just those two?" Michael asked. Annie looked confused for a second before turning towards the computer again,

"Just them two" She told him after a minute of typing,

"I'm not their only child. I had a baby sister on Fastoon"

"Maybe your mother or father got a Lombax to take her with them through the Dimensionator?" Christine suggested, I guess Erik must of told her at some point about the fall of Fastoon,

"No, my dad didn't want that to happen"

"How do you know that?" I asked him, I didn't want to say it was possible that Tachyon got to them first,

"I overheard my dad talking to this Lombax called Kaden"

_What?_

_That's my father!_

"What did he say?!" I demanded. Michael looked at me in confusion to my sudden command,

"Kaden and Henri, my dad, were talking about how their children were born at the wrong time. I overheard Kaden talking about sending his son to Solana, apparntly he had some purpose..."

"What was his purpose?! Tell me!" I shouted,

"Ratchet!" Katheryn growled,

"He didn't say!" Michael responded quickly in a defensive way. I felt my stomach drop, why didn't anyone know? Tachyon yelled it to me, telling me only he knew my 'true purpose' and my 'true name', when he was falling into that black hole, both me and Clank heard it. It troubled me for ages, I stopped thinking about it when Clank was kidnapped, but recently I had been thinking about it again, "All he said was he was sending his son to Solana, my dad asked why and he said that he couldn't say. My dad told Kaden that he was sending his daughter away as well. I never knew if he actually did!"

"Ratchet? Why the sudden interest into what that Kaden guy said?" Annie asked,

"Kaden's my father" I told them, my eyes not leaving Michael,

"That makes sense" Michael commented before standing back up, "Listen Ratchet, I have no idea why Kaden sent you away, but we need to focus now. We can talk about this when we've sorted all this out"

I nodded, agreeing with him. We really did need to focus, "Oh no! Please keep going!" A voice called out from the door.

_Great, here's my favorite psychopath!_

We all turned to where the real Eve stood, grinning her usual evil grin.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**Now what will happen?**

**So, Ratchet now knows about Michael knowing Kaden...**

**Is this a turning point in their 'friendship'?**

**I'm sorry there wasn't an Annie Part in this chapter, there's a good reason for that. **

**I'm not saying what that reason is though ;)**

**The DW reference was the blood control, it was featured in 'Christmas Invasion' which was 10's first episode. Of course, Eve wont use it the same way. **

**NEXT:**

**Blood Part 3: The Warrior **


	9. Blood Part 3: The Warrior

**Okay, so the weirdest thing just happened...**

**Wrote a part of this chapter up on Word before copying and saving it on here. Just logged back in to work on it some more and it was all coded?!**

**Luckily, I was coming here to change the ending because I hated it.**

**Trust me, you all would of too.**

**In other news, anyone seen the new movie screenshots recently? It's getting so close I can't stop leaping in excitement whenever I think about it!**

**Oh, and I'm thinking of going back and editing the first few chapters? Like the ones where there is no line breaks (The first one mostly!), so if you get any emails saying I had updated then I'm sorry. This is the only new chapter!**

**Also, a very special happy birthday to Clank for the 26th! (I don't know if I would of updated by then...) Decided to include that fact in this chapter!**

**Blood Part 3: The Warrior**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"Anyone wanna explain what the hell happened up there?!" Erik insisted, bandaging up Ratchets arm from where a bullet had gone past his arm, cutting it but not going into it, "We hacked her systems, stole the plans, got caught and ran. Oh and we bought back a little present!" Katheryn told him, the cut on her lip making it painful to speak. We all had a few battle wounds, Katheryn had a split lip, Michaels nose was broken, Ratchets arm had been cut badly by the bullet, Annie sprained her ankle badly and my hand was in a cast, waiting for my cells to regenerate and fix the bone. One of my Vimton skills, I guess, "Well, yeah I gathered that part but what happened? Like what did she say to you?" Erik pestered on,

"Well..." I began,

**4 HOURS EARLIER**

"Oh no! Please keep going!" Eve smirked at us,

_Crap, we've been caught_

"We were just checking your... security systems? Yeah, we got a call about them? We are not Lombaxes, just friendly repair people!" Ratchet came out with. Everyone in the room, including Eve, gave him a look that told him to shut up, "Nice try. You really think my own troops wouldn't notice that you" Eve turned towards Katheryn, who was still wearing the holo-guise that made her look like Eve, "were trying to be me? I'm flattered, honestly! I told the troops to let Annie over there access those 2 files, what did you think? Impressive, aren't they?"

"How did you get their blood?!" Micheal spat,

"Never mind that, it's what I'm doing with their blood that you should be worrying about!" Eve teased him,

"What are you doing with it?" I asked, knowing that Michael would only make the situation worse if he spoke,

"Lets say a sponsor of mine is very interested in Mr Green here, and his family" She told me,

"Sponsor?"

"SYSTEMS FAILING. WEAPONS FAILING. DEFENSIVE SYSTEM FAILING. AUTO-DESTRUCT IN 5 MINUTES. ALL EVACUATE." The computer screamed, I looked over to Annie hunched over a computer behind us, we had all kept Eve talking whilst Annie fully hacked the system and shut it down,

"Well... that does it! KILL THEM. Except Ratchet and Michael, they will be useful. As for the others, enjoy target practice! Laters!" Eve ordered, her robot troops looked at her before firing after us,

"You know, usual this is the time to run..." Ratchet said, before grabbing Katheryns hand to pull her out some trance she must of gone into when Eve was talking. She looked alarmed before registering what was happening.

We all ran over to the locked doors, bullets following us in our path, "Ok... I'm going to go with- OW OW THAT HURTS!" Ratchet clutched a part of his arm, black blood all ready staining his glove, "You've been hit!" Michael said,

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious" Ratchet snapped, his face looking like it was trying not to cry out in pain, "Also, doors locked"

"If something heavy hit this keypad then it should unlock, if my maths and science is correct" Annie stated, examining a keypad by the door,

"When isn't it?" Katheryn said, smiling a little before turning to me, "Christine, perhaps if you used your telekinesis whist you punched the keypad, it could unlock the door? Also, we need to take that guy with us" She nodded towards the Warrior who was locked up in the same room as the escape pod,

"SELF-DESTRUCT IN 2 MINUTES. EVACUATE." The computer reminded us of our limited time,

"Worth a try!" I yelled over the now wailing sirens. I ran over to the keypad, closing my eyes to focus all my energy on it before punching it as hard as I could.

A unimaginable pain spread throughout my hand as the door slid open, "Ok, I think I just broke my hand..." I cried, before running through the now open door. They all looked at me stunned before following.

When we ran past Sam, who's chains came off when I unlocked the door, Ratchet yelled, "Dude, if you wanna survive then follow us!" Sam looked at us all like we were mad before standing up and running after us, "30, 29, 28!" The computer began the countdown, our feet running faster then ever, Ratchet took the lead with his hover boots, trying to get to the ship and start her up so we could leave straight away. Something like that, I couldn't really hear him when he hover booted past, explaining what he was doing.

"14, 13, 12, 11"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN **

**THE PRESENT**

"Then what?!" Erik asked like a big kid, I couldn't help but laugh a little at my older brother. His eyes had grown wide whilst Christine explained what had happened in Satellite 8, right up to the point the computer reached the last 10 seconds of the countdown,

"Then..." I continued, my lip throbbing with pain as I talked,

**4 HOURS AGO**

"10, 9, 8"

"KEEP GOING!" Ratchets yell came from the cockpit of the escape pod, his voice coming through our radios. We kept running, dodging the bullets flying down the never-ending hanger as the computer reached the last few seconds.

We all jumped at the same time, reaching for the now flying escape pod. My fingers managed to clasp the cold edge, my body hanging down towards the now exploding floor. Eves hair falling in my face, making it harder for me to see and to get in. I felt a pair of hands grab my wrists, pulling me in the door,

"I've got you!" Michael reassured me, both us falling to the floor. I gave a weak smile to him before running over to the windows, space flying past up as the explosion decorated the stars, "You know, it's not possible for an explosion to happen in space because of it being a vacuum? The only wa-"

"Annie?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up" Christine told her before turning towards the Warrior, "Guess you're kinda confused?"

"A little, but first I have to do something" He told us before walking up to me and punching me right in the face. My hand flew to my face as searing pain spread throughout my skull. I could feel blood coming out my mouth, "What the hell?!" Annie asked. Christine was holding back Michael who looked fuming,

That's when I remembered what I was wearing, "Guys, I look like Eve right now?" I turned the holo-guise off, revealing the real me underneath. Sams eyes grew wide as he realized that I wasn't actually her, "Holy crap! I'm so sorry!"

"Hey, no hard feelings?" I winked before going over to the cockpit where Ratchet was sat, oblivious to everything that had just happened behind him, "How's the arm?" I asked, surprising him a little. He glanced over with a smile before looking back into space. His face whipped round again in shock,

"What happened to your lip?" He demanded,

I put my finger to my lip, feeling the split and the pain, "Got punched in the face by the new guy"

"What? Why?!"

"I had an Eve holo-guise on, remember? Guess he thought I was her and wanted to get her back for keeping him captive" i suggested. Ratchet just shrugged before turning back towards the windsheild.

After a few minutes of silence, Ratchet broke it, "This is a hyper-speed, long range ship. We should be back in about 10 minutes"

"Are you going to use it after?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said it was a hyper-speed, long range ship, right? Can't this ship get you back to... where was it?"

"Solana?"

"That was it! I thought it was Polaris"

"Nah, it's not that kind of long-range ship. I wish I could though, sometimes. Wish I could go back" Ratchet thought out loud. I felt a little saddened by that, I mean I knew why he would want to go back, being a hero, all of his friends are there, his best friend! But, at the same time I thought that just maybe, he would stay here with us Lombaxes? "Then there are moments when I think 'yeah, this is where I belong'. I mean, I've been here 4 months now and I'm starting to settle down with a job, having that kind of life, you know?" Ratchet burst out with,

"Opposed to what life?"

"What?"

"You said 'having that kind of life', meaning that you've no had that kind of life before" I challenged, I knew why he hadn't had that kind of life before,

"I've never, uhm, never really decided to settle."

I decided to use this time to get to know Ratchet more. I only knew what was said in the news and the little he told me, "Didn't you have a girlfriend or anything like that?" I asked.

He looked upset, "I did for awhile, but everything just got in the way. Then I ended up here, never able to see her again"

"What was her name?"

He smiled at me, "Talwyn Apogee"

The ship began shaking uncontrollably, "Looks like we've getting into orbit. You might wanna warn the others" he looked glad to end the conversation. I stood up and went to the back where the others were sat, talking to Sam, "So then what happened?" Annie insisted, I guess he was telling them some story,

"This great beast came closer and closer and BAMN! My blaster jammed" So I threw the blaster right into his mouth"

"Then?!" Christine asked, hooked on what he was saying,

"He choked on it! So afterwards Captain Qwark, you know him?" Everyone nodded, including myself who had no idea what they were talking about, "walked up to me and said 'You know, you remind me of a younger version of myself, of course, a lot less handsome!' That day on I worked for the Bogon defense force, that was before I landed on Earth and got captured..." He shivered,

"You might wanna put your belts on, we're about to go through the atmosphere" I told them before sitting down myself.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

"Then?" Erik asked again,

"Then Annie fell out the ship when we landed and sprained her ankle" Everyone turned and laughed at me and my clumsiness,

"In my defense, I was figuring out Eve's plans in my head whilst I was getting off!" I responded. Her plans were so interesting! I had never seen anything like blood control before, "Guys? The Director said to send you up once you had been checked over" Erik broke the awkward silence that had fallen. We all sighed, we had hardly gotten out of there alive, dealing with the Director was something none of us wanted to do right now.

We all walked (and limped) out of Christines office down to the elevators, "What do we say to him? We have no idea if Eve escaped or not" Ratchet asked us all. We shrugged, not knowing ourselves. the elevator came down before anyone could think of something to say. We rode up to the 55th and final floor in silence, no one speaking about what was about to happen.

The 55th floor was all one big office for the Director, he had all his board meetings up here, his own private training equipment and firing range. He ever had his own private swimming pool. Ratchet let out a low whistle when we all walked out, "It's impressive, isn't it?" Leo remarked, walking out of one the doors leading to the rooms attached to the office, "It's one hell of an office, Sir"

"Thanks. I've called you here to discuss what you're all going to do now, seeing as you are all hurt in one way or another" He stared at all our injuries in turn, "We need out figure out how Eve is going to use the blood control device so, all of the Lombaxes are gonna have blood tests"

"Wait, why would Eve try to control Lombaxes? She is a Lombax!" Ratchet challenged,

"She's using Lombax blood at the moment. Seeing as there is a very low number of Lombaxes, we're gonna test everyone" I shivered at the thought of needles. For a scientist it is weird I'm scared of needles, "All of you need to head to the labs, Dr. Leroux will meet you there"

"Wait, Sir?"

"What is it, Agent West?"

"What are we doing about The Warrior, or Sam. Whatever he is calling himself?"

"Interrogation, then what we do with all new agents. Now go!"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

The blood test took 5 minutes and hurt like hell. When I walked out Erik's patient room Katheryn was leaning against the wall, waiting for me, "How you doing?" She asked me,

"Arm hurts, and my nose still hurts. Other then that I'm good"

"I meant about this whole Eve thing"

"Oh, right" I looked around to make sure we were alone before leaning closer to her, "I'm terrified" I whispered in her ear. She looked at me with concern in her eyes before whispering back, "We'll protect you"

I smiled at her gratefully but inside I was still terrified. What was Eve going to make me do? Make me steal some Eye of Infinity thing like some guy did under mind control years ago? Make me kill my best friends?

Katheryn gave me a weak smile before walking away. After a few seconds I followed her back up to the offices, scared of what could happen to me.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

It was well past midnight when we finally got some news. I was staring outside through the massive windows, when I noticed the date I couldn't help but feel upset but a little happy inside, "Happy birthday, pal" I smiled to myself, remembering all the good memories we had together,

"What did you say?" Katheryn asked, looking up from her computer. I'd forgotten she was here,

"Nothing, it's a friend of mines birthday today" It was more then that, 13 years ago today I finally managed to get off Veldin, met Clank and began to see the universe in a different way. Today marked the day when I began to become who I am today. I was only 15 and it's probably the best thing that ever happened to me, I wouldn't change any of it. Now here I am, 28 years old and saddened at the fact that they all probably thought I was dead or captured or I found a way back to the Lombaxes and abounded them, "Well, happy birthday to them then" Katheryn smiled before turning her chair around to where Christine had just ran in,

"You guys need to come Michaels office with me, now!" She ordered before running off again,

"Has he been..." I began, Katheryns eyes grew wide before she took off after Christine. I shook my head before following.

I soon caught up to Katheryn as we ran down the aisle of desks before coming to Michaels office, my arm was killing me from running. I did my best to hide the pain as we went into the office, "What's happening?" Michael asked. He didn't look like he was under any kind of control,

"We've got the results back from the blood tests and something we didn't expect came up" Christine said, handing the folder over to Michael. I was a little confused to why me, Erik, Katheryn and Annie had also been called here, "Michael, we've found your little sister" Christine spoke quietly.

In that moment I figured it all out,

_She was sent away from Fastoon_

_She never knew her family_

_She was a baby when Tachyon attacked_

"Michael, Annie. You're brother and sister."

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**SAY WHAT?!**

**I'M ENDING THE CHAPTER THERE?!**

**I'm gonna let this sink in.**

**In other news, on my profile there is now more information about the Together characters, feel free to read it and learn more about there pasts before Ratchet showed up and this story started up :)**

**NEXT:**

**Blood Part 4: Flashbacks **


	10. Blood Part 4: Flashbacks

**Ok, so you may have noticed that this story now has a new name**

**Together is now called Under These Lies! I'm sorry is this causes any confusion, it is still the same story. Nothing has changed!**

**In other news, this is the end of the Blood story arc! After this chapter I'm going to start to edit the older chapters (mainly the first one!) I will tell you when the editing is finished but it means there won't be a new chapter for a while though.**

**Blood Part 4: Flashbacks****  
><strong>

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

I sat in my secret part of the roof, the cold air biting into my skin but I didn't care. The human city of New York lit up the night sky in the distance, reminding me of Axiom City,

"Hey" I turned around to see Ratchet stood behind me,

"Hey" I gave a small smile, I wasn't really in the mood for talking to anyone, not with the news I had just gotten,

"You alright?" He asked in concern, sitting down next to me. How could I be alright? I just found out that a person I had been working with for the past 5 years was my brother! "What do you think?"

"I didn't think you would be" He sighed at me, "I don't understand why though"

"What do you mean?" I snapped, he had no idea what it was like to get news like this,

"Do you know how lucky you are? You've just found out that you still have a family member that is alive! Not only that, but he's on the same planet as you! You both already know each other! You've got someone to be there for you, to tell you what your parents are like, someone who could tell you about you when you were a child. You still have a family! How could you not be alright?" Ratchet exclaimed. His speech surprised me slightly, I had never seen him get so worked up over something before.

Then I remembered the conversation between Michael and Ratchet in Satellite 8. Me and Ratchet had both been in the same situation, we had both been sent away from Fastoon when we were tiny, we didn't know our roots or who are families were, neither of us could even remember life on Fastoon, "I'm sorry" I told him, breaking the tension,

"What for?"

"You know what" He smiled at me before putting his arm around me, wincing at his arm and gave me a hug. I smiled, returning the hug,

"If you ever need someone to talk to, I'm here" He told me,

"Thank you"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

We sat there for a while, talking about growing up on Veldin and Terachnos, how we were named,

_"So how did you get the name Ratchet?" Annie asked me after telling me what had happened when they found her outside an orphanage,_

_"It's a funny story actually" She gave me a look, "When I first got to Veldin I was taken to this old nursery place they had there, because they found me without anything like a note, they had to name me themselves. Unfortunately for me the naming bot had broken and kept repeating the last word it said before breaking"_

_"It kept repeating Ratchet?!"_

_"Yep, but the carer bots had no idea it was broken at that time so they named me Ratchet" _

When the sun was coming back up we finally got up to go back downstairs, "Are you ready for this?" I asked, Annie nodded, smiling at me before walking/ limping over to the stairs. I followed her down the 6 flights of stairs before getting to the floor where Katheryn was stood in the door way, holding two cups filled with coffee (turns out earth coffee is better than the one at home...), "You two took your time! Here's some coffee, you're gonna need it"

"Why?" I asked, happily accepting the mug of steaming liquid,

"We've managed to hack into her old database with some of her plans on and we think we know why Eve wants to control Annie and Michael" Annie glared at her, looking angry at Katheryn for reminding her, "Sorry"

"Let's go" I told them, walking through the doors leading to the medical bay. Katheryn overtook me and lead us over to a little room at the end of the corridor.

Inside the room stood Erik, Christine, Michael and Sam, "What's going on?" Annie asked everyone, they all looked at each other before Christine spoke,

"We think we know why Eve would want to control you and Michael. You see, she wants to use the two of you to get to someone else and we think we know who"

"Who?" I asked, but I already knew the answer,

"The Lost Hero"

"But that means.." Annie began,

"He's in A.E.P.O. Not only that, but he has to be someone who you or Michael know" Christine finished. I pretended to look surprised but I inside I felt guilty. Because of me Annie and Michael were going to become puppets in Eves game against me, they could die because of me, "Wait, why's he here?" Annie asked, nodding towards Sam,

"I was up in that Satellite for a long time, I heard the occasional whisper from the guards, ends of a conversation, a new assignment, stuff like that. I know parts of Eves plans and I'm a true hero, I'm very useful to have"

_'So he's self-centered? Who does that remind me of...'_

I rolled my eyes, noticing that both Michael and Erik had done the same whilst the girls giggled like a bunch of school kids, "The plan is to keep Annie and Michael under surveillance, see who they talk to that they wouldn't usually. Whilst we do that, Sam is going to see if he can find Eve, if he finds her we're gonna pull of a fake exchange with her, Sam for the blood control" Erik said, elbowing Christines side to stop her giggling,

"Do you think that's gonna work?" I asked, it didn't really sound like the best of plans,

Michael shrugged, "It's all we've got"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"What do we do until then?" Ratchet asked,

"Guess we just sit and wait" Katheryn told him.

We talked a little more before going to where we all needed to be, Annie to the labs, Michael, Katheryn, Ratchet and me going to their offices, Erik staying in the medical bay and Sam heading up to the Directors office, saying he needed to talk to him, "So what's that guys story?" Ratchet asked when we arrived at Michaels office, "He hasn't actually told us, we only know what was on that file in Satellite 8"

"Can we trust him?"

"Let's hope so" Katheryn said before leaning against the desk. An uncomfortable silence fell, none of us knowing what to say. We kept shooting glances towards Michael who looked like he a million miles away, "Anyone wanting lunch?" Katheryn burst out with, we all nodded, glad that someone spoke,

"I'll help you go grab it!" Ratchet said, following Katheryn out the room.

I was glad to be left alone with Michael, I was wanting to talk to him about everything that had happened last night, "Before you ask, no I'm not okay" He said before sinking into his chair, burying his face in his hands, "I understand"

"It's just... overwhelming I guess. I mean, I've known Annie for 5 years and I've never once considered that Annie could be my sister? Not once did I look at her and think 'hey, we look alike!'? I'm such an idiot"

"No, you're not! Michael, I've known you since I was 10 and you have never been an idiot. Not even on my 21st birthday when we went to that Alien night club place and I got you to go on karaoke? Remember that? Turns out you were actually really good?" He smirked, "The point is, you shouldn't blame yourself not to notice, it was a shock to all of us, but know we have to protect the two of you. Let that be your focus"

"Thanks" He said, standing up and hugging me,

"Anytime" He grinned at me before sitting back down, "So how's the wedding planning going?"

"Well-" I began before the phone cut me off, Michael looked at me in a apologetic way when he picked up the phone,

"She's right here" He told the person on the other end before handing it over to me, "It's Sam" he told me,

"Hello?"

_"I know where Eve is!"_

"That was fast!"

_"What can I say? I'm just that great. I've been in contact with her, told her about the exchange"_

"And?"

_"She's agreed to it on one condition"_

"What is it?"

_"She wa-" _The phone line cut out. I looked up in horror to see Michael holding the end of the wire,

"Guess what?" He said before pointing a gun at my head.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

Me and Ratchet were walking along the corridor towards the elevator when the alarms starting going off and the lights cut out, "What the?" I said, Ratchets eyes grew wide as the computer voice rang out, "SYSTEMS FAILING. BACK UP SYSTEM FAILING"

"The only person that could do that is..."

"Annie!" Ratchet exclaimed, running towards the elevators,

"Ratchet! Ratchet, the elevators won't work!" He turned towards me, "The systems are failing, there's no power!"

"The stairs!"

"No, the doors automatically lock to prevent an attacking forces from proceeding up the building, they're the only thing with power!"

"How the hell are we going to stop this then?" Ratchet yelled over the alarms,

"Guys! Over here!" I turned to see Sam running towards us, "I was coming to find you, I've been in contact with Eve. She says she'll stop this if you come to these coordinates!" He handed me a crumpled piece of paper with coordinates scribbled on them,

"That's great but how the hell are we gonna get out the building?!" Ratchet demanded. Before me or Sam could reply, a load of gun fire came through the window, smashing it. We all dove behind an overthrown table,

_"Sorry! I had to smash the window somehow" _The Directors voice came through my radio. I peeked over the edge of the table, I saw nothing out the window,

_"I'm under the window. All the power has been diverted to the defense systems, Annie can't hack them. If I fly up and into view I will be blown out the sky. They can't tell what's an agent and what's an enemy, they'll fire at you but if you run fast enough they won't get you but at the window you're gonna have to jump!"_

"Copy that!" I yelled into the radio before turning towards Ratchet and Sam who both nodded, obviously hearing the message in their radios. We all got up and jumped over the table, a shower of bullets flying out from behind us as the system acknowledge us. Ratchet took off in the lead with his hover boots with me and Sam closely behind.

When we got to the window, we all stopped, seeing nothing below us but having no choice but to jump,

"Where is he?" Sam demanded,

"I don't know!" I responded, fear now taking over my senses,

"We need to jump!" Ratchet yelled,

"Are you insane?!" Sam exclaimed,

"It's either jump or die!"

"Jump!" I yelled,

"Agreed!" Sam yelled back,

"Together?" Ratchet asked the two of us,

"Together" Both me and Sam said. We all stepped back a few steps, taking a deep breath, we all ran forward and plunged towards the concrete ground 20 floors below us.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"What's Annie doing?!" I demanded. Michael gave me an evil smirk, the same one that Eve was so famous for,

"What she's told" Michaels voice had no emotion in it, no signs of the real him. His face had turned hard, like he had a mask on. The guns tip felt cool against my forehead, if I even tried to use telekinesis to move it, it'll shoot. I know how quick Michaels reflexes are, they were nearly as quick as mine,

_Nearly as quick as mine!_

When the holograms from the training room suddenly appeared, Michael looked right over at them. That was his big mistake.

I knocked the gun out his hand, sending it flying across the room. We both looked each other before diving for it, trying to force the other one out the way get it first. My fingers grasped it just before his did. We both lied on the floor side by side, panting from the effort of trying to get the gun first. I pointed the gun at him as he tried to grab it again, "Don't think that just because you're Michael, I won't shoot"

"You'll never"

"Oh really?" I said before firing.

The tranquilizer dart lodged into his leg, "What the..." He fell asleep, his head falling to the floor,

"Well, at least that worked..." I said, standing back up, tucking the gun into the waistband of my jeans, just in case he woke up again.

_"Christine?! CHRISTINE?!" _Erik yelled through the radio,

"I'm okay. He pointed a gun at my head but I got to it first"

_"Did you manage to put the tranquilizer darts in before hand?!"_

"Yes, he should be asleep for about an hour. Did you manage to stop Annie?"

_"Yeah, I was in lab when she turned. Good job she made these dart guns the other day"_

"Has anyone seen Katheryn or Ratchet or Sam?"

_"I thought they were with you?!"_

"No?"

_"Sam told us before the system shut down that he was with you!"_

"He was on the phone with me when Michael turned!"

_"That means... HOLY CRAP!"_

"What?! Erik?!"

_"You're not gonna believe this but Sam, Katheryn and Ratchet just fell past my window!"_

"What? They've jumped out the building?!" I exclaimed before running over to my window and looking up, seeing nothing, "Erik are you sure that was them? No one is falling down the building!"

_"It was two Lombaxes and a person who looked exactly like Sam! Give me a sec... Christine? They're not there anymore!"_

"We need to see if we can get in contact with Kath or Ratchet and warn them!" I commanded, running out the room towards the hanger.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

We only fell for a few seconds, not even enough time to open our mouths and scream when we fell through an invisible opening,

"About time!" The Director claimed from his seat as we all lied on the floor of a ship, trying to get the air back into our lungs,

"Has this ship got a cloaking device or something?" Sam asked, helping Katheryn back onto her feet. I used the wall as support to drag myself up,

"Yeah, it's a new technology that tech is working on. I would love to chat but we've got to get to Eve, do you have the coordinates?"

"Yeah, right here" Katheryn pulled the paper that Sam gave her out her pocket and handed it to The Director,

"Don't bother sitting down, that's nor far from here" The Director told us, "You'll have to jump again though, there's nowhere to land there"

"Where is it?" I asked him,

"A cliff on the edge of a forest, about a 3 minute fly from here"

I wanted to tell him that something seemed wrong about this but decided against it, he was the Director of A.E.P.O he probably knows what he's doing, right?

We flew in silence, trying to not think about what was happening back at base. We were close to making it stop, we should be happy about that but there was nothing from anyone. I grew more and more suspicious about this plan, something just seemed off about it. I couldn't help but think that it was somehow Sam in some way, how did he know where me and Kath were? How did he find and talk to Eve so quickly? Why did Eve agree? It didn't seem like her, she seemed like a person who liked big gestures, not quiet little exchanges? "We're at the drop zone" The Directors voice cut the silence. We all turned to the ramp that was now opening,

"Now isn't a time to be afraid of heights!" Sam said when he saw me hesitate,

Why was the way he acting seem familiar? I shook my head, I needed to focus. I ran off the ramp and dropped the short distance to the ground, using my hover boots to break my fall.

Then something weird happened, I had one of those crazy out-of-body experiences.

I watched as me and Katheryn stood up, both of us facing the cliff edge. We began to walk forward to investigate when I heard something behind us and turned around.

I watched as the ball of purple energy hit me right in the chest, knocking me back several spaces. I saw Katheryn snap around, watching me in horror, unable to do anything.

I watched as I coughed and struggled to breath, my hand holding where the energy had hit.

For a second I saw a different scene, the same thing going on but in a different setting and different people. For a second I was stood outside the Great Clock, watching myself stumble backwards, coughing and slowly, heavily breathing with Clank be able to do nothing but watch me die.

Then it was gone and I was back to watching me, Katheryn and my shooter.

I blinked, getting out the experience and returning to my body just as my feet ran out of ground and the darkness took me in.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

"Ratchet?" I asked when he stopped coughing, hoping he wasn't dying. His body slumped and fell backwards, falling right over the edge.

I ran forward, attempting to grab him and failing. I knelt over the edge of the cliff, "RATCHET?!" I screamed as his body fell down to the sea below. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see his dead body hit the water.

I felt the rage take me in, the anger running through my veins. I knew who did this, I knew what I had to do,

I turned to where Sam should of been stood, putting my hand in front of me so I could kill him myself,

"Your move" Eve spat, Sam standing slightly behind her, grinning that his plan worked.

Sam had betrayed us.

Now, Ratchet had payed the price.

Ratchet was dead.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**I'm sorry, **

**I'm so, so sorry.**

**I did tell you back in RT that you wouldn't like the ending of this story arc, did you forget?**

**The question is though...**

**Is Ratchet really dead?**

**Or has the game come to an end?**

**FIND OUT SOON IN:**

**The Fake Hero: False Hope**


	11. DESTROY Part 1: Hope

**I could never leave you guys on a cliff hanger like that for ages!**

**I'm mean, but I'm not cruel...**

**I think?**

**This story arc has had it's name changed, but you probably didn't notice that :P**

**DESTROY Part 1: Hope**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

"CLEAR!" The word echoed down the maze of corridors in the run down building. With every word my hope grew less and less. We had been chasing Ratchets signal for a couple days now. No sleep in two days, two days of false hope.

Two days since Ratchets faked death.

Whenever I closed my eyes it would haunt me. Watching as his face twisted in pain, over and over again. Every time I felt more and more guilty. Even after we had figured out that they faked his death, kidnapping him instead. What's the best way to kidnap a person and no one look for them? Fake their death. I couldn't help but feel like it was my fault. I should of never trusted Sam, we didn't know him and yet, I believed he was on our side. Not working for Eve and pretending that he was against her.

**2 DAYS AGO**

"Your move" Eve spat, Sam stood slightly behind her, grinning that his plan worked,

"You killed him. Now? Now I'm gonna kill you" The rage boiled inside me. I didn't care that she was my sister, I didn't care that it was the device that made her who she is. She still killed Ratchet, "Kill me and you die"

"What?"

"Your devices are connected, destroy Eves and yours would stop working. You would die instantly because if I remember correctly, it's your heart as well as your weapon?" Sam smirked at me, making my anger worse,

"Sam, stand down" Eve ordered him, looking annoyed at him,

"But Commander-"

"I said stand down! Go back to base, that's an order!" Eve directed him. For a moment he looked like he was going to argue but thought better of it. He ran forward and jumped... right over the cliff edge that Ratchet had fallen down no more than 3 minutes ago.

As soon as he disappeared Eve lowered her hand, making it obvious that she didn't want to kill me too, "What's going on?" I demanded,

"A new game. I'm not going to kill you, not yet anyway. Time you got a little test, enjoy!" She smiled. I fired a blast of energy at her but she disappeared in a cloud of smoke, missing my fire by mere seconds.

I stayed frozen for a few minutes, confused by what she said. I hadn't become aware of anyone arriving until Christine began shaking my shoulder, trying to bring me out of the trance I had fallen into, "Kath? Katheryn?"

"Y-yeah?" I began to shake a little, even though it wasn't cold,

"I said, what happened? Where's Ratchet? Or Sam?" I remained silent, not answering her questions,

"Kath please tell us" Michael asked, slurring his words slightly, sounding like he had just woken up from some deep sleep,

"Sam betrayed us"

"We figured out that he was an undercover trooper, working for Eve. Where's Ratchet?" Christine asked again.

Finally the tears I had been holding back silently slid down my cheeks, "H-he's dead..." I whispered. Everyone around us went silent as it sunk in. Even though Ratchet had only been here 4 months, he had become one of us. He was a member of our team, he was our friend,

"NO! HE'S NOT!" Annie screamed at us, looking over the edge, scanning the ocean,

"Yes he is! I watched as Eve shot him! I watched as he dropped off the cliff, I watched as his dead body went down!" I yelled, all the anger leaving me and the hurt taking over,

"But did you see his body go into the ocean?" Annie challenged. I closed my eyes, the whole scene going through my head,

_"Ratchet?" I asked when he stopped coughing, hoping he wasn't dying. His body slumped and fell backwards, falling right over the edge._

_I ran forward, attempting to grab him and failing. I knelt over the edge of the cliff, "RATCHET?!" I screamed as his body fell down to the sea below. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see his dead body hit the water._

"No, I didn't"

"Then who say's he went into the water?"

"Annie, where could of he gone?" Michael asked, looking slightly more alert then before,

"I'm no expert but who says this isn't a set up? Maybe they knocked Ratchet out and then teleported him before he hit the sea?"

"Why would they?"

"Maybe they need him for something? Maybe Eve needs him for something? Maybe Eve is working for someone who needs him!"

"Why?" Christine asked. I knew why, Eve knew that Ratchet is The Lost Hero, maybe she know needs him for some plan of hers?

_''A new game'' _I remembered Eves words again,

"She said that it's a new game!" I blurted out. They all looked at me in surprise,

"Well, looks like we've got some playing to do" Annie said, walking back towards the ship they had used to get here, "Everyone forget I said that..."

**THE PRESENT**

"Look's like a drug den, not a base of any kind" Michael informed us,

"Look's like we've got our first dead end" Christine sighed, giving the last room a look around.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

"It was a hoax!" Katheryn yelled, walking into the lab. I frowned, it was the only lead we had! I walked over to the team who had gathered around a table by the door of the lab, "There must of been something there!" I asked them,

"Nothing! Not even a little note or any traces of anyone ever being there!" Katheryn snapped. She had been in a foul mood for the past 2 days, probably because she hasn't had any sleep or because she knew Ratchet was out there somewhere and we were nowhere near finding him,

"Annie, can't you do that DNA scanning thing that you did for Erik?" Christine asked me, I instantly shook my head,

"Erik's only worked because we had a vial of his blood" I told her, watching Katheryn's ears sink lower as more hope was taken from her,

"But when you showed us how it worked you took some of my fur? If we found some of Ratchet's fur or something with his DNA on it, could that work?"

"I guess so, but it has to be something with ONLY Ratchet's DNA on it, otherwise the machine won't work" I told them, seeing the hope fill their faces,

"What are we waiting for? Let's go find something!" Christine said,

"Kath would there be anything in your apartment?"

"Most likely, I don't go in his room at all, not even to clean. There'll probably be something in there!" Katheryn looked happier then she had for days,

"Let's go investigate!" Michael sighed, walking back out the room,

"What's his problem?" I whispered to Erik,

"No idea" He whispered back.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

We remained silently on the way to Katheryn and Ratchets apartment, no one wanted to say that this could be a massive waste of time. Eve could of already been here and destroyed anything of use to us.

Their apartment was huge, their front room had the kitchen attached. The living room was painted red with red sofas with black cushions. A massive TV with a games system dominated one wall with a glass coffee table underneath. The other wall was a massive window, overlooking New York City. The kitchen opposite the the wall with the TV. There was one door on the left and two doors leading off the right, "Bedrooms" Katheryn said, nodding towards the doors on the right,

"Where do we start?"

"We don't have too, I know exactly what would only have Ratchet's fingerprints on" Katheryn said before walking over to an umbrella stand next to the front door and pulling out a large omniwrench, "Is no one wondering why that's not back at HQ where Ratchet last was?" Michael asked,

I picked up the umbrella stand and turned it over. A note fluttered out onto the floor, I picked it up and read it out loud, "So close yet so far. Try again later, but I'll give you a clue, it was his only possession that he brought to earth, but it never sees the sky. Enjoy! Love, Eve"

Katheryn sank down in the couch, "She's making us hunt for him? I've got nothing!"

I turned to Annie, "Anything in that brain of yours?" I asked.

She smiled, "I've got an idea on how to solve it? We need to watch Ratchets interrogation video"

"Why?" Michael asked, looking bored already,

"You'll see!" Annie rat out the door again, all of us following in her tracks.

**LATER**

We all gathered around the TV screen in my office, watching Ratchet's interrogation video,

_"Mr Ratchet, I'm afraid your star ship was badly damaged in your crash"_

_"How badly?"_

_"Beyond repair, I'm very sorry" _Ratchet's face on the video fell,

"That's it!" Annie exclaimed, making us all jump, "His ship! 'It was his only possession he brought to Earth, but it never sees the sky!' It's the only thing that fits!"

We all nodded in agreement, she was right!

"Christine! Search the database, see what they've done with it!" Katheryn ordered. I ran over to the computer and typed in Ratchets name. When his file loaded up I ignored the 'DECEASED' label next to his name and looked down to his first file, "There! Star ship Aphelion, the parts are being held in hanger 1212. Came to Earth with Ratchet. That must be it!"

"Erik's already down there, we could get him to look?" Michael suggested. He really didn't look happy at all, I was starting to grow concerned of Michael. Recently he had been in a really bad mood, ever since Ratchet went missing but I knew this wasn't about Ratchet going missing.

When the others left the room I grabbed Michaels arm, "What do you want?" Michael spat. That was _really _weird, Michael never spoke to me like that, we were best friends! "Michael what the hell is your problem?!" I demanded, he looked a little surprised before his face set into a mask,

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"You damn well know what I'm talking about. You've been in a bad mood since we find Katheryn at the cliff!"

"I'm not upset about Ratchet is that's what you're thinking. I mean, I don't feel happy that he's gone but I'm not gonna sit in a corner and cry about it!"

"I knew that already, you two were hardly best of friends. If this about Eve?" I knew about Michael and Eve's past, how he felt about her before she became who she is now, "No, this isn't about Eve!" Micheal protested,

I figured it all out right there and then, "This is about Katheryn!"

"Fine! Yes it is!" Michael gave up,

"Michael? Are you in love with her?!" That would explain so much... The way Michael acts around new guys, the way he acts towards Ratchet, the reason why he was so protective over her?

"No! Yes! I don't know! Look, what's important right now is we find Ratchet!" Michael exclaimed before taking off after the others,

I smirked before following him, now everything was getting interesting...

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ERIK**

I was walking along the hanger, making sure all the first aid kits were still in place and filled when I heard running footsteps behind me,

"Erik! Wait!" My sister yelled behind me, I turned to see Katheryn, Annie, Michael and Christine all running towards me,

"What's up?" I asked them, slightly baffled by their sudden appearance,

"Where's hanger 1212?!" Annie demanded. I looked to the hanger next to me and then pointed at it,

"Right there, why?"

"Eve was here, she's giving us clues to help us find Ratchet!" Christine said before turning to the door,

"Locked" the computer voice rang out,

"Crap" Michael spat at the door,

"Yeah, that's not your only problem" I said, noticing the figures coming towards us. They all turned to where I was nodding and saw the soldiers running towards us, their guns pointing at our heads, "Why can't anything be easy?" Christine asked, putting her hands up in surrender.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**EVE**

I watched Ratchet through the glass, he had been asleep for 2 days and was due to wake soon. I felt a little guilty for shooting him to sleep, the guilt was the part of the old me that I kept buried inside my mind. It was always there though, in the back of my mind. The memories of my old life an an A.E.P.O agent before becoming a freak show,

_Stop thinking like that! That device is the best thing that has happened to you!_

I shook my head, trying to get rid of the good thoughts. It was like my device was beginning to grow faulty, making me think like I use too. Heck, I was even beginning-

"What the hell?" Ratchet's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked up, a little surprised that he had woken and managed to walk all over to the glass wall that separated him from me without me noticing, "Morning! You've been for 2 days so expect to feel a little light headed, don't worry it'll wear off!" I gave him my famous evil grin,

"Where am I?"

"DESTROY HQ. You're here for a different reason then what I'm going to tell you"

"What's that then?" Ratchet looked a little dazed, not surprising really, he had been asleep for 2 days then woke up in a glass prison. Who wouldn't? He was leaning against the wall for support,

_Must be a little weak. I can't believe I have to ask him this..._

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**I can't believe how gullible you guys are,**

**WHY WOULD I KILL RATCHET?!**

**Anyways, I'm sorry for the lack of Ratchet in this chapter. He will be playing a big part in the next chapter though, if that makes up for it? I just wanted you all to see the other characters in a bit more action than before.**

**It was interesting to write from Eve's POV, I hope it was interesting to read too. **

**NEXT:**

**DESTROY Part 2: Undercover**


	12. DESTROY Part 2: Uncovered Memories

**What happened guys? I have had hardly any reviews! **

**I'm loving this fanfic so far, it is an absolute joy to write!**

**Anyways, I wont babble on, you have a chapter to read!**

**DESTROY Part 2: Uncovered Memories**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MEANWHILE IN AN UNKNOWN LOCATION**

**RATCHET**

"Help me" she almost looked like she was begging, I frowned, of all the things I thought Eve would do to me, I had not expected her to ask for my help,

"Why?"

"Because if you don't help me, your friends will die and it'll be both our faults" What? Why did Eve care?

"Wanna explain?"

"These DESTROY guys have set up some sort of trap, they're making your team follow a bunch of clues that they think I'm lying out for them but it's actually a mission to kill them"

"Why aren't these guys trying to kill me? Why did the kidnap me instead?"

"I don't know why but they want your memories. At some point you must have seen something or done something that is useful to them?"

"What do they wanna do?"

Eve looked around for a moment to make sure we were alone before leaning right against the glass,

"Conquer the universe and all the dimensions. They want to change time so that no hero is born. You think I'm insane? These guys are even worse than me." I thought for a moment, trying to think of what I had seen or done that could help them,

_The Great Clock!_

_The Dimensionator!_

"We're screwed. Have they already done anything whilst I was asleep?"

"They set you up to the machine, then they found out that they needed you awake so they've been waiting"

"What machine?!"

"It lets a person download the memories of a person, if they hooked you up to it then it'll be the end of everything, but we can stop it. We just have to work together"

I almost agreed until I realized something, this was Eve. She wouldn't just ask for my help, she would make this into a deal of some kind, "This would get me out of here? Right? Without anyone knowing who I am? Ok, what's the catch?"

She looked surprised for a moment but answered quickly, "You let me go. You help me get out of here but then you let me go" I frowned, this wasn't the Eve I was beginning to know. This was someone who was desperate, "Why do you care if they killed the others? Didn't you once say to me that you're gonna kill Katheryn in the future?" I challenged,

"That's the future, that's for an entirely different reason. Look, are you going to help me or not?"

"Why are you so against these guys?" I wondered. Wouldn't Eve be on their side? She looked like she worked for these guys, whoever these guys were,

"Look, I know I'm a villain and evil and what not but even I know the massive risks involved. I don't want people to suffer badly, that's not my style. For once," She looked me right in the eyes to show that meant her next sentence, "we are on the same side"

I don't know why but I suddenly felt like I could trust her, which was crazy, "Fine, I'll help. What's our first move?" She grinned, reminding me of Katheryn for one painful moment, "They think I'm on their side at the moment"

"You're undercover?"

"I guess you could call it that. I'm going to see if I can give you some time until they hook you up to the machine. While I'm doing that you are going to use this..." She help up a small device with a needle poking out the edge. I couldn't take my eyes of the needle, I've always hated needles, ever since I was a kid and I had to have a load of blood tests when I accidentally cut myself on a poisonous rusted piece of metal, "to activate that DNA tracker thing Annie has. I modified it when I was controlling Annie, before she hacked your systems. We'll have to buy them some time so that they can receive the signal and get here then they can raid this place and get us both out. Wait until my signal to use this thing" She slid it through the grate that was probably meant for giving me food.

She walked back a few paces when the door behind her, uncovering someone who looked familiar. My eyes widened when I realized who it was,

"Director?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**EVE**

"Director?" Ratchet asked, his eyes widening. The Commander glanced at the Lombax before cracking up laughing,

"No, no. You've got me mixed up with my twin! I'm Commander Dazan Shut, my brother is the Director of A.E.P.O, Leo Shut" The Commander looked angry for a second, he always did whenever he spoke about his brother. He quickly recovered and grinned, "It makes Christmas dinner a little awkward"

"No kidding. So, your brother directs your biggest threat? Interesting" Ratchet smirked, not taking any of it seriously,

"Now we both know I'm not his biggest threat, nor is he my own" The Commander enthused before walking up to the glass, "But, unlike Leo, you are also my greatest weapon. I assume Miss Eve has been explaining what we do here?" Ratchet glanced towards me before nodding slowly, "Good, then we can get started!"

"Wait! Sir, I hadn't finished explaining yet. How about you get the machine ready and I'll tell Ratchet why exactly he's here and why it was important that the enemy thought he was dead" The Commander looked between me and Ratchet before nodding,

"Fine, you've got 10 minutes" He huffed before storming out the room. As soon as the door shut Ratchet turned to me,

"What are you gonna do in 10 minutes?!" He demanded. Unlike Ratchet, I knew the Commander would be outside listening in,

_Time to play my part,_

"Do you know why you're here Ratchet? You're here because your memories hold the key to conquering the universe!" I exclaimed but my face was giving Ratchet the 'Play along!' look. He nodded, understanding what I was doing, "What do you mean?" he asked, playing along with my charade,

"You know what I mean. You've seen weapons that we can only dream of. You're memories of these weapons can serve as blueprints to changing the history of the the universe. Heck, it's in your _blood_ to be the hero" I emphasized the word blood so he could understand what I was actually saying. He bit his lip, using the device behind his back, "Eve, there are some risks in that. Risks that aren't worth taking!"

"Risk? Risk makes us who we are!" For a moment Ratchet looked pained, I couldn't tell if he was in pain from pricking his finger or if he was remembering something,

"Why did you fake my death?!" Ratchet snapped out his pained look, giving me a slight nod to indicate that it was done,

"Ok! I've heard enough, let's hook him up to the machine!" The Commander waltzed back in (how does man stay so happy about destroying the universe?). Ratchet looked at me in a panicked way but I couldn't think of anymore ways to stall the Commander.

A.E.P.O wouldn't have enough time to get here and save anyone at all.

Me and Ratchet, a hero and a villain, had failed.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET  
><strong>

I didn't try to resist, there was no point. I couldn't take all these armed robot soldiers down with my bare hands, I needed my wrench or my omniblaster and I had neither. In fact, I had absolutely no idea where either of them was.

With ever step I grew more and more anxious for the fate of the universe, I had seen what would happen if the clock was used improperly. I had seen the risk of the dimensinator. If these guys were as obsessed as Nefarious and Tachyon had been, or even as obsessed as Azimuth then the universe was absolutely screwed and this time I had no way of stopping it.

Maybe I didn't need weapons to stop it? I could...

It was too late to think of a new plan, we had entered a room with what looked like an electric chair in the middle and a headset, the room was barely lit. There was only a single spotlight illuminating the chair, "Light messes with the readings" One of the robots grumbled at me when they noticed my eyes grow wider. Yet, I still didn't resist against them, I let them place me in the chair, I sat there as Eve did up the straps around my ankles. When she was working on the one on my left wrist she leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "Try to block out any thoughts of any weapons" I pleaded for her to save me with my eyes but all she could do was finish doing up the buckles and walk away, leaving me on my own.

I looked straight ahead into the mirror on the opposite wall, did they really think I was that stupid? I knew it was a one way mirror, they were watching me but all I could do was watch myself as a strange humming began to echo off the walls of the chamber.

Then I saw nothing. It was black all around me, the darkness was pulling at my mind, trying to bring me in,

_Resist it! RESIST IT! _I screamed in my mind but it was hopeless.

I watched as I landed on Veldin as a cub, the carer bots taking me into the nursery. I watched as I lived my childhood, alone. I never realized how alone I was as a cub. I smiled when I saw me find my first wrench. I wanted to close my eyes as I watched the 13 year old me have to say goodbye to the carer bots as they shut down when they became aware that I no longer needed them. I saw the younger version of me begin to build a ship from scratch, wanting to see the stars I admired every night, I almost laughed when 15 year old me grew annoyed at the fact he couldn't finish his ship with the robotic ignition system.

Then came the part I knew DESTROY would pay close attention to,

"Interesting"

"ARGH!"

I laughed at myself as he met Clank, _'Pal, you have so much more coming your way ' _I thought to myself, chuckling at the thought of our adventures.

I watched them all in turn, I knew there was no weapon in these that DESTROY would find of use to their plans, not unless they wanted to turn everyone into robots. When the memory of being on Kerwan when Tachyon attacked began I started to tell myself to resist it,

_'They can't find out about the Dimensionator. Don't let them see!' _I opened my eyes again to the darkness, feeling a little confused. Had I done it? Did they see it or not? The darkness ended quickly again, right on one of my worst memories,

"CLANK!" I yelled as the Zoni took him away. I watched the younger me break down in tears, thinking that his best friend had gone forever. I felt... empty? I don't know what I am feeling. I should feel happy because I know what happens next, I know that he finds Clank, and yet I was sad.

Probably because Clank thinks I'm gone forever as well. He was in the middle of a situation like the one I had just witnessed for the second time. With a heavy heart I watched as younger me (You know what? I'm just gonna refer to him with my name, we are the same person) and Talwyn fought off the pirates, trying to get the Fulcrum Star. I felt guilty watching Ratchet and Talwyn, last time I spoke to her we got into a fight and now she probably thinks I'm gone forever because of her. I missed her like crazy sometimes and then there are times when I just sort of forget everyone. There were times in the past 4 months when I was actually happy here on Earth, there were times when I wanted to go home and then there were times when I question myself where was home. Polaris or Earth?

I snapped out of it when I heard Qwark, "Space, it's hu-"

_'Oh god not this again. Remember to resist!' _I closed my eyes, Qwarks words disappeared as soon as they shut, blocking out all memory. I kept them closed for a minute before slowly opening them again. Unlike last time, I didn't open them to darkness, I opened them just as Clank and I believed we were gonna die at Nefarious's space station. I tried closing them again, knowing that in a few seconds Azimuth was going to appear and take them to the Great Clock. I could still hear it all though, Azimuth yelling at me to jump, throwing Clank onto my back before making the leap, the explosion of the space station ,

and then silence.

For the final time I opened my eyes but this time I opened them back up to the mirror. My vision was hazy, my head pounded and my back and palms were drenched in sweat. I struggled to breath for a few seconds, gasping for air I waited for someone to come and take me away.

**BOOM!**

The explosion above made my chair fall to the side, making my head worse. My vision remained blurred but I could see the Lombax figure running towards me,

"Ratchet? Are you dead?" Eve asked, shaking my shoulder slightly,

"You wish. What's happening?" I croaked out,

"A.E.P.O are here and they're raiding this place whilst your team look for you. I think you'll be pleased to know that the attack began whilst you watched yourself in Annihilation Nation, so no one saw Tachyon or Dr. Nefarious for the second time. They've got all on a database somewhere though but we've got no time to find it. We need to get you out of here!" She began unstrapping me from the chair, I could hardly see her through my blurry vision. She was just a blur of golden fur and black clothing and occasionally the bright red gleam of her eyes, "Can you walk?" She asked, pulling me up to my feet. My legs felt weak and one step was liked carrying a dead weight plus I could hardly see, "Not without help" I whispered, my throat hurt like hell. What did that device do to me?

"Come here then" Eve out my arm around her shoulders and began to help me walk. I leaned heavily into her, putting a lot of my weight on her. My legs were so painful, like I had gone through every injury I had ever had at the same time.

We limped out into the corridor when I saw the second blur, "Well, what do we have here?" The Commander asked before pointing something at us.

Even with my blurry vision I tell that the guns were pointed right at mine and Eves heads.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**If you're were wondering, this is how this story arc works:**

**Part 1: A.E.P.O Team**

**Part 2: Ratchet and Eve**

**Part 3: A.E.P.O Team**

**Part 4: Everyone**

**Basically this story alternates between the 2 places but all the events of 1 and 2 are at the same time and so is 2 and 3. **

**4 is what happens next for all of them :P**

**NEXT:**

**DESTROY PART 3: Pumpin' Blood**


	13. DESTROY Part 3: Pumpin' Blood

**Guys what's happening? I've gotten hardly any reviews recently, your reviews are like an authors food. If we don't get any we starve!**

**That was a terrible comparison...**

**DESTROY Part 3: Pumpin' Blood**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE  
><strong>

They made a ring around us, leaving no room for an escape of any kind. We weren't armed, not unless you count the bandages in Erik's hand as a weapon.

Knowing we had no choice and that we were in a difficult situation all we could do was surrender and hope that this was some kind of misunderstanding, "Stand down!" cried a voice, the soldiers looked towards the source before lowering their weapons. We all glanced at each other before lowering our own hands, wondering what the hell was going on, "Sorry for that guys! We had a strange signal coming from down here so we had to check it out!" The Director pushed his way to the front of the ring, looking apologetic, "It's all gone now!" He finished,

"What kind of signal?" I blurted out, curiosity getting the best of me. Christine elbowed my side but the Director chuckled under his breath,

"Of course you would ask. It was an unknown signal, we can't trace it again. It was there and then it was gone just like that" The Directer clicked his fingers for emphasis. I raised my eyebrow, there were hundreds of possibilities, "Do we have thermal down here?" I asked impatiently, we had stuff to do and maybe this could help us track down Ratchet?

"Yeah, we do. I've already sent it up to your lab for analysis" The Director nodded at us before turning to the soldiers, "Let's move out!"

They ran off, leaving us all in a uncomfortable silence, "Guess we should go up?" Christines words disturbed the silence,

"She was here. She distracted us with the bloody DNA thing to put us off game" Katheryn spoke quietly but there was a razor edge to what she had said,

"We couldn't of know-"

"I should of known it was a trick!" Katheryn exploded, she stared at us with cold, hard blue eyes. For one terrifying moment I saw what truly was behind those eyes, hatred, hurt and pain,

"How could of we known the DNA thing was a trick?!" Michael protested,

"I'm not talking about that! I'm talking about Sam or The Warrior or whatever he is called! I should of kn-" Katheryn clamped her mouth shut, realization widened her eyes, "I need to talk to The Director!"

"Why?" She turned to me, her stare made me squirm inside,

"Does it matter?! I need to speak to him, NOW!" Katheryn began to run in the direction the soldiers had gone but soon stopped dead, "Christine let me go!"

I turned to the Vimton who had her hand in front of her, keeping Katheryn still with her mind, "No, not until you listen to me! Talking to The Director will waste time we could of been spending tracking down Ratchet! You're not the only person blaming yourself for believing Sam! We all did, we put him in best position to be able to trick and who had to pay the price? Ratchet did, he payed the price for us not being careful and now our priority should be finding him!" Christine let go of her grip, letting Katheryn fall onto her knees. Katheryn remained there, breathing heavily after the grip had kept her lungs restricted.

She stood up after a moment and turned to me, "What's our next move?"

I smiled slightly, time for my turn to shine, "We go up to the labs and examine that signal. My guess it that it is a teleport code, if I can decrypt that code then we can follow it and hopefully it'll take us straight to wherever they're holding Ratchet"

I watched as a little bit of hope flickered in the her eyes, "What are we waiting for?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

Following the Lombaxes up to the lab I couldn't help but feel a little hopeful, we were one step closer to finding Ratchet. Annie looked deep in thought, probably already to figure out how to decrypt the signal if it indeed was a teleportation signal. Katheryn was walking like she had a new sense of purpose, she looked like she was trying to cover the fact that she too was hopeful that we were a step closer to finding Ratchet and ending this sick game of Eves.

When we reached the labs, none of us speaking, Annie rushed over to her station, eager to begin working. I pulled up a chair, knowing that this was going to take a while,

"Do you really think this is gonna work?" Erik whispered to me, pulling up another chair beside me,

"I can only hope" I whispered back. Erik glanced at me before watching Katheryn, concern filling his eyes,

"Do you know how hard this is for me?" He wondered aloud, looking like he had only remembered to whisper. I nodded, watching him closely. His ears were drooping in the way they always did when he was concerned, his tail hung down lazily, only twitching on occasion. I laced my fingers through his own, giving his hand a reassuring squeeze, "I understand it's difficult for you to see her in that mood" I murmured. Erik squeezed my hand again but his eyes still hadn't left Katheryn,

"She's been so different recently. A good different, like Ratchet is a good influence on her or something"

"You'd be surprised how close they have become over the past 4 months. You would think that had been friends for years. It's like they have some kind of connection, but they don't know what it is" Erik smiled at me and opened his mouth like he was going to say something but a round of beeping cut him off,

"What's that?" Michael asked, looking around to locate the source of the beeping. My eyes landed on the DNA tracker, it sounded lie the noise was coming from it.

Picking up the glass tablet I noticed a red pulsing light on it,

"What is it?" Katheryn inquired, her face full of confusion. The Lombaxes all shot me questioning looks, begging me to answer with their expressions.

I read the name at the side of the light and almost dropped the tablet in shock, "Christine? What is it?" Annie pleaded,

"I-it's Ratchet?!"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

The waves crashed below, the salty sea tang flowing in the wind. The air was filled with the noises of the trees behind blowing in the wind, making it almost peaceful in this area. In the very far distance you can just make out the city, a lot closer to the left stood A.E.P.O HQ, home to the planets alien species and robots. The coldness bit into the fur of the four Lombaxes that stood upon the edge of the cliff, alongside them was a half human, half Vimton. They all breathed in deeply as they prepared for the challenge of rescuing their other team member from an enemy base,

Long story short, we had found Ratchet and were getting ready to rescue him.

Ratchet's blood signal led down to an underwater base of A.E.P.O's sworn enemy, DESTROY. Apparently DESTROY was so important that they had to have their name in capitals... you see what we're dealing with?

"Let's go through this plan one more time" A level 10 agent called to us, we had been through this plan at least 20 times now and if we heard it again we could cry, "Team's Alpha, Beta, and Delta will infiltrate the base using submarines. They will begin a raid on the base, giving team Echo a distraction. Using this distraction, Echo will rescue the subject an-"

"He has a name you know!"

"Sorry Agent Leroux, Echo will rescue Ratchet and take any data we could find useful of the system and onto that hard drive" He pointed to the small black box with a USB at the end clutched in Annies hand, "Seeing as we have no idea what condition Ratchet is in, Dr. Leroux will go with team Echo. I'm sure if anyone shoots at him agent West will deal with them..." There was a few chuckles from the other teams as Christine gave a mini bow to them all, "after they retrieve Ratchet and any data they find they will use one of the submarines to make a getaway. Any questions?"

A dreaded silence hung in the air, a question they all wanted to ask but none dared to know the answer, "What do we do if we encounter Eve?"

"Let me take care of her" they all turned to me, looking shocked and a little scared of me. I kept my stare on the level 10, daring him to challenge me. I could feel the rage boiling inside me, the rage hadn't left me at all since Ratchet's fall. It was what had kept me up at night, it's what has kept me going, kept me determined. Why? Because Ratchet was the Lost Hero and on my life I will keep him safe because the universe needs him, _I _need him.

Wait, what? Now is not the time be thinking like that!

"Are you sure, Leroux?"

"Pretty sure" I wasn't lying either, I wanted to be the one who dealt with Eve. Even if it meant I died, it was something I would have to do to save everyone. I felt determined to finish this, not scared that this could be the end for me, my final fight, my final bow.

They all looked worried or scared, clenching and unclenching their fists, pacing back and forth along the cliff, waiting for the signal to begin the plan,

"Alright everyone, positions!" Christine ordered, looking eager to get it all over with. The other teams looked terrified as they ran to where the submarines were, well we call them submarines, they're more like hover cars that work underwater (Annie would be better at explaining it...). Me, Michael, Erik, Annie and Christine, team Echo, remained at the cliff edge. We were going to go in the same way as Ratchet, jumping down into the sea below and using whatever hole the other teams blew in the base to get inside. We were getting out a better way though, using one of the subs or stealing one for ourselves.

We remained silent as each sub went under and into a formation, ready to begin the raid below, '_Echo we are in position, awaiting command, over' _Christine glanced towards us before grabbing the radio, "Engage, we'll see you down there, over and out" For a moment it was silent before the water grew angry and alive with whatever was happening below,_  
><em>

"Ready?" Michael asked us all, looking like he was about to vomit. Michael wasn't that great when it came to heights, or the even the ocean. I smiled a little, he had to face both fears at the same time just so he could rescue someone he didn't really like (Me and Ratchet still have no idea why he doesn't like Ratchet, to us it's still a mystery), "Ready" We all said at the same time before running forwards, the cliff edge growing closer and closer with every step,

"Jump now!" Christine commanded, leaping over the edge and heading straight for the sea below.

We all jumped at the same time, gravity taking it's hold on us and taking us down to the ocean, we were only falling for a few seconds before sinking into the water. The coldness was a shock, my suit taking a moment to heat my body up. I closed my eyes before dicing underwater, my O2 mask letting me still breath underneath the water. I looked around me to see the others swimming down towards what looked like a metal cylinder on the ocean bed.

I dived deeper and deeper, the cylinder growing closer and closer, I could see the subs and the docking station they had parked at. They must of seen it and thought it was better to dock instead of blow up a wall to get in, we swam towards an empty docking station at the end of the cylinder. The doors opened when we got close, making it easy for us to enter.

When we all had swam into the water filled room the door sealed shut behind us, leaving us floating around in the empty room before the water began being pumped out. It took a few minutes before the water was around my ankles, "Well... that was fun?" Annie joked, ignoring the heated glare off Michael who looked like he would collapse at any moment. We could hear the raid on the other side of the door, as well as screeching alarms and the flashing lights all around us,

"Any idea where Ratchet could be?" Erik asked, removing his O2 mask and emptying the water out his shoe at the same time. Annie pulled out the DNA tacker and typed something in,

"According to this, Ratchet is directly below us" The scanner began beeping and Annie typed something in before her eyes grew wide, "This beeping only means one thing..."

"That is?" Christine prompted,

"Ratchet is with Eve!"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ERIK**

We watched the monitor as Ratchet and Eve remained together, "What's she doing?" Michael whispered,

"What's Ratchet doing as well?" Katheryn whispered back, frowning at the display. Eventually they started moving, walking towards somewhere. We remained still, waiting to see what will happen next. Another signal popped up, with two black crosses in front of the blue blob that represented a person, "What's the crosses?" I asked Annie, "Weapons. Whoever that is is holding two weapons right at Eve and Ratchet" Katheryn looked at us all before walking towards the door, ready to go and stop whoever shooting Ratchet.

Then a massive crash and a 'what the hell?!' sounded from a grate in the ground we hadn't noticed. The top of the grate had been removed and placed next to the hole that lead to some air ducts. We all ran over to the hole and looked down, directly below was a vent with the front removed, leaving another hole that lead to the next floor. We looked at the top someones brown hair that we all recognized, none of us had noticed Christine slip away whilst we were all watching the monitor and go down the air duct to the floor below. The 'what the hell?' we had heard was Ratchet after Christine had knocked out whoever had the guns pointed at the Lombaxes, "Christine?" Micheal exclaimed, she looked up at us and smiled,

"Come on down you guys!" She called up,

"Can you see Ratchet?" Hearing his name, Ratchet walked over to Christine and also looked up, squinting slightly as if he was struggling to see,

"Right here!" He smirked at us, he could only croak out his next sentence, "I can barely see so you're gonna have to come down here and help me"

We all dropped through one at a time, me going first and Katheryn coming in last. When I dropped down I immediately walked over to Ratchet, "Are you hurt?"

He squinted at me, "My head hurts, my legs are weak and I can hardly see, other than that I'm fine" Ratchet then swayed slightly and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes, I began checking him over as the others came down,

"How did you get here?" Annie asked him when she came down,

"Well, we were on the cliff and I-"

"Not this place, you idiot. She means to this corridor if you can barely walk!" Michael snapped. What was with him? He had been in a really bad mood since this whole thing started!

Ratchet gave no response, instead he turned to look at the figure behind him. Eve stood still, watching us all in silence. I hadn't seen Eve since the warehouse two months ago but she seemed different, I couldn't figure out why she did, she just did, "You!" Katheryn yelled when she saw Eve,

"Wait, no! Katheryn!" Ratchet stumbled forward and grabbed Katheryns hand, pulling her to face him, "Eve's on our side!"

"What do you mean?" Katheryn demanded,

"Eve, tell them what you told me" Ratchet looked back over to Eve, still holding onto Katheryns hand and not seeing me smirking at the pair and Michael glaring at them,

"DESTROY wants to kill you guys and take over the universe. Apparently Ratchet has either seen something or heard something that could help do that, they have a machine that could basically download as a persons memories, it's hard to describe. They created this trap, you guys were going to follow some trail I had apparently laid out for you but then they were going to kill you. I heard the plan and call me old fashioned but I like the universe as it is? So... oh god I can't believe I have to say this but I needed your help to stop these guys" Eve look disgusted that she had to ask for our help,

"So why shoot Ratchet?" Christine asked,

"I had to go along with the plan, they don't know that I'm against them. It was me who gave Ratchet a device to let you tack down his location, I tried ot buy you time but it didn't go well..." Eve looked over at Annie who was turning over the guy Christine had knocked out, "This isn't possible!" She exclaimed when she saw his face.

I walked over and knelt beside her, looking at the Director who was knocked, "The Director?!"

"No, that's his twin. Dazan, I think that's what his name is? He's the Commander of DESTROY" Ratchet had stopped leaning on the wall but was still holding Katheryn's hand, I don't think they knew that they were still holding hands,

"Yeah and if he wakes up he'll kill us all, no questions asked. So if you two wanna stop holding hands and think of a way to escape then we can go!" Eve snapped, clearly this situation was annoying her. Katheryn and Ratchet looked down at their hands before dropping them to their sides, both looking embarrassed,

"Urr, guys? We have a situation over here?" Annie called out, her back facing us as she looked at whatever the situation was.

Eve and Ratchet both walked to the front of us all, checking out whatever Annie had pointed out,

"Have I got your attention?" Sam snarled, holding up a black box,

"We've failed?!"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**OOPS I DID IT AGAIN,**

**I FORGOT TO UPDAAATE *begins singing***

**I'm not sure what's gonna happen now... It's in the process of being planned :P**

**Don't forget to review!**

**NEXT:**

**DESTROY Part 4: Mistakes**


	14. DESTROY Part 4: Side by Side

**Ah, the finale to the DESTROY story arc,**

**Enjoy.**

**Don't worry, there'll be no dead Lombaxes at the end this time...**

**Right?**

**DESTROY Part 4: Side by Side**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

"How?" Christine asked Eve, who had just told us we had failed,

"This contains all the memories of your favorite Lombax, everything he's seen, heard, felt. Everyone he has met, everyone he has even looked at. It's all here, right on this drive. Everything we needed to know so we could dominate this universe and all other universes is in my hands" Sam glared at Eve, "I should've known that you would be on their side, guess Lombaxes stick together? Maybe that's why they all ran?" Both Michael and Erik began walking forwards, fury on their faces before Annie and Christine held them back. Sam smirked, looking happy that he had hit a weak spot on the pair. Eve marched forward, coming face to face with Sam,

"Listen here, you know nothing about anything! You don't know what DESTROY are really planning, I bet they promised you a true war to prove yourself? You're as bad as the rest of your species" Eve spat, Sam looked over to Christine,

"No, as bad as _our _species" Sam remained staring at Christine,

_'Sam is the same species as Christine?!'_

"You're a-" Christine eyes widened, her grip loosening on Erik who she was holding back,

"More than that! I'm yo-" A explosion shook the building, cutting off Sam's words as we all fell to the floor. My hand landed in some water,

_'We're underwater, this isn't good!'_

"What the hell was that?!" Annie demanded,

_"All units! All units! Evacuate immediately! This place will flood in approximately 15 minutes! Team Echo, do you have Ratchet?" _Christines radio yelled at us,

"Ratchet is with us, with us is also the Commander of DESTROY an-"

_"What?! Is he okay?" _The Director demanded,

"He's unconscious, I found him pointing a gun at Ratchet and Eve. No one is to shoot at Eve when we escape, clear?"

_"Explain!"_

"We don't have time! We also have The Warrior, I'm bringing him in!" Christine yelled into the radio before turning it off. The sound of explosions continued to shake the building but somehow I managed to find my balance and seize the box from Sam, "I'll take that!"

"No! You'll never ta-" He suddenly grew still, I turned to see Christine holding her hand out in front of her, her face filled with fury as she kept Sam still with her telekinesis. The water was around my ankles and raising, "We need to get out of here! How do we escape?!" I turned to Eve who was looking around,

"Down that hallway on the left is an escape pod, we can use that!" She shouted over the noise,

"You heard her! Let's go!" Ratchet ran down the corridor, all of us following him.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

Priority One:

Get out of here alive

Priority Two:

Get that box off Annie before she looks at it or worse, hands it over to The Director. Then I'd truly be screwed...

"What are we gonna do about that guy?" Erik asked, stopping us in our tracks and making us turn to the Commander, who was still unconscious on the ground where Christine knocked him out. Eve smirked before snapping her fingers, the body disappeared in a blue light,

"Hey, can't believe that worked!"

"Where did he go?!" Katheryn demanded from her sister,

"A.E.P.O prison, you know the one where you lock up all the really _really _bad guys? We all, well they all have a teleporter in their watches so I sent him there" She grinned before taking off again, we continued down until I realized something,

"Wait, if they all have teleports in their watches then how come Sam is still he-" I trailed off as I realized Sam was no longer with us,

"Crap!" Christine yelled, noticing that he was gone as well, "Now what do we do?!"

"We have to go or we'll never get out of here alive!" Michael yelled back, further along the corridor than us. Me and Christine glanced at each other before nodding and running again, the water had risen to our knees, making it hard to run as we waded through to the escape pod.

When we got to the pod the water was waist high and getting higher. my legs felt weak and freezing, making them grow slowly numb with cold. I was trying not to shiver as Eve worked the key pad, "Once I've opened this you'll have a minute before it automatically ejects from this place and locks onto the nearest docking station, which is A.E.P.O"

"I'm sure we can all get in the pod in one minute!" Erik exclaimed,

"Yeah? Then whose gonna stop those guys?" Eve nodded to the area behind me, we all turned to the sight of the DESTROY soldiers running towards us,

"Laters!" Eve yelled, pressing a button on her wrist and disappearing as the countdown began for the pod,

"What do we do?!" Annie asked. I knew what I had to do, it was me who got them here, it'll be me who gets them out. No matter what happens to me, I have to get them out of here, "You go, I'll take care of these guys!" I took the combuster out of her hands without looking at her eyes, knowing that they were probably begging me not to do this,

"You're not doing this alone, or with such a small gun" Katheryn smirked, holding up two Alpha Disruptors. Although I was glad to get a better gun, I couldn't have her risking her life! The others needed her, so what if she was the closest friend I had here? So what if I wanted her to stay with me?

_What? FOCUS YOU IDIOT!_

"No, you go with the others!"

"You can't make me!"

"Hell yeah I can!"

"I'm staying here and helping you, whether you like it or not!" Why wouldn't she listen?!

"If I go, you're more likely to die!"

"If you stay then you could be killed!"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take!" She looked next to her before glaring at me, "Whilst we were busy arguing the pod left with the others! Looks like I am staying" She pushed one of the disruptors into my chest, giving me no choice but to take it. The soldiers had begun firing at us,

"Ready?"

I nodded, "Ready"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"NO!" Erik, Michael and Annie yelled as the door slammed shut and the pod ejected from the station, Katheryn glanced at the window before turning and saying something to Ratchet, glaring at him as she spoke to him, "We need to go back for them!" Annie ran to the controls, pressing a few buttons before her face fell. Eve had told us that the pod would go straight to base, we couldn't go back for them, but I knew Katheryn and I know Ratchet enough to know they'll get themselves out of there.

I had other things to think about, what was Sam going to say before the explosion?

'I'm your species?' No, he had already said that,

'I'm your friend?' Nope, he was trying to kill me.

'I'm your... brother?!' Can't be, I don't have a brother!

Yet, I don't know what my mother did after she went back, did she have another child? Did her and Dad have another child and he didn't tell me? I mean, he didn't even tell me about my mother until I was 10, I didn't know I wasn't fully human until then. Did he keep that away from me too? Could Sam be related to me somehow?

"Christine? Did you hear me?" Michael pulled me out of my thoughts, frowning at me he looked me right in the eyes, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. What did you say?" His eyes narrowed as he kept looking at me in a funny way, like he didn't believe me,

"I said we're gonna go back to base and come back out here with a heli-carrier, if those two have any sense they'll go up as far as they can in the building before swimming to the surface, okay?"

I smiled and nodded, "Alright, how long until we get to base?"

"5 minutes" I nodded again, walking to the screen, watching as we grew closer to the base. I could hear them muttering behind me, probably about me but I was busy. I was so confused, could Sam really be my brother? No, he couldn't be. I don't have a brother and yet, the thought wouldn't leave my mind. I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I hardly notice my phone buzz with a message,

_'Wait, how can I get a message when I'm underwater?' _I pulled out my phone, frowning as I opened the message from an unknown number,

_**MEET ME AT THE THING THAT RUNS BUT CANNOT WALK, SOMETIMES SINGS BUT NEVER TALKS. LACKS ARMS, HAS HANDS; LACKS A HEAD BUT HAS A FACE. MEET ME WHEN THE HANDS POINT TO THE STARS. COME ALONE.**_

"The clock?" I thought out loud, there was a clock tower near the base. Who wanted to meet me there at midnight?

How did I figure that out so quickly? I'm usually terrible at riddles, it's like I already knew it?

"What did you say?" I turned to Annie and shrugged,

"Nothing" I turned my back on them again and looked at the message, ignoring the mutters behind me. I knew I couldn't go alone, in case anything bad happened and I needed someone to help but if I told these guys they wouldn't let me go at all. I needed someone who I trusted and could count on but they would let me go. Someone like...

_Ratchet!_

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

We had made it up three floors without getting into any trouble, we still had a load of ammo and not a scratch on us. The water on the higher floors were a lot lower but it was still rising, "What's the plan?" Ratchet asked whilst shooting at a clump of troopers,

"Keep going up, when we get to the top we swim to the surface and hope they get us! ON YOUR LEFT!" Ratchet looked surprised to see the trooper he hadn't noticed before. I shot the robot before Ratchet could even blink, "Thanks!"

"What would you have done without me?" I joked, Ratchet rolled his eyes before running off again, hoping over the fallen robotic bodies who had gotten in our way.

We reached an empty corridor when the building lurched to the right, both Ratchet and I slamming into the wall that had become the floor instead, "Yeah, we're screwed" Ratchet commented, correcting himself after being taken off balance. The water was rushing in from all sides, getting higher and higher by the second,

"We've got about one minute until the water fills up the entire place" I screamed as we were thrown to the left, right where we were before,

"We need to get out of here!"

"How? The docking station is below us!" Ratchet looked frantically around for something to help us,

"The air ducts!" He yelled, his eyes landing on the vent in front of us, "Go!"

I ran forward and fired a blast of energy at the grate, making it fly out of place in a small explosion. The water was coming in faster and faster, dripping in from the ceiling and flowing down the walls, it was like it was raining heavily inside with ice water, my fur grew damper with bitter coldness that bite into my skin.

I dropped down the hole I had created into an empty docking station, Ratchet following behind. The water was at my waist, breaking my landing as I dropped inside,

"How do we open this?" Ratchet asked. He looked like a drowned rat, he was shivering badly, the cold water had glistened his fur that was soaking wet. His eyes wide as they looked around the area, he almost looked vulnerable and kinda cute...

_Seriously? I need to stop!_

"There's probably an emergency way of opening the doors but you do know what will happen when we do?" I looked at him, really seeing the vulnerability in his eyes because he knew what would happen next,

"This entire room will fill with water first before the doors open and it'll take too long for me to be able to hold my breath and I don't have an O2 mask. There's a chance I won't get out of here in time and drown..." He tried to look brave but you could see the fear in his eyes as he truly let his words sink in.

I took my O2 mask off my back where I had kept it and handed it over to him. He looked surprised before shaking his head, "You can't!"

"Watch me" I reached out and grabbed his hand, preparing myself for what could happen next, he looked at our entwined fingers shaking his head,

"Katheryn ple-" I cut him off as I pushed the button marked Door Release.

The water came in quickly, barely giving me time to take in air. As soon as the room filled the race against time began, my lungs felt full, my heart pounding anf my pulse was racing as we began to swim out, Ratchet grabbing my arm to help me get out faster. The surface looked so far away, my eyes were stinging from the salt water but I clawed my way up, black spots appearing at the sides of my vision, threatening to take me into the darkness.

After what felt like forever, my lungs felt like they were about to burst, my chest felt like it was on fire and I thought I couldn't go on any further, Ratchet pushed me up and my head broke out the water. Ratchet popped up in front of me whilst I was gasping in air, "Don't ever do that again!"

"Do what?" I looked around, barely focusing on Ratchet. There was no where that I could see that we could swim to, only bit of land I could see was the cliff that we had jumped off to get here, "Risk your life for me!"

That caught me off guard, "What? You're angry at me for _saving _you?"

"No, I'm mad at you for sacrificing yourself for me!"

"Why? We're alive, aren't we?"

"I care about you! Don't _ever _do that again or I swear I'll-"

"You guys done arguing?!" We looked up to see Annie leaning out a heli-carrier above us,

"Why do we keep missing these things?" Ratchet asked, grinning slightly as the carrier got lower so Annie and Erik could grab us both. We were pulled into the heli-carrier and had those weird silver foil blankets placed around us, "It's to keep you warm" Erik said when he handed them over,

"Oh and Ratchet? When we get back you need to go see Christine, she needs you for something" Annie commented before walking over to the pilot and sitting down next to him.

_Why would Christine need Ratchet?_

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

"You needed me?" I leaned at the door to Christines office,

_Can we get this over with so that I can get that black box off Annie? Before she looks at it!_

"Yes! Come in and close the door, it's top secret" Christine didn't look up from her phone at all,

_Has Annie already shown them? _

Christine placed her phone on the desk facing me, "I got this text whilst we were getting away, someone wants to meet me at midnight, alone"

I looked at the text on the phone, _**MEET ME AT THE THING THAT RUNS BUT CANNOT WALK, SOMETIMES SINGS BUT NEVER TALKS. LACKS ARMS, HAS HANDS; LACKS A HEAD BUT HAS A FACE.**_

"A clock?" I asked her, the riddle was surprisingly easy.

_How did I guess it so fast? Never mind that, Christine needs to hurry up with this so I can go save myself from Protocol 10,_

"There's a clock tower near here, whoever sent this wants me to go there alone"

"But you're not going alone, are you?"

"True, I need you to come with me" _Crap! _"You'll stay in the car with an earpiece in, just in case anything goes wrong and I need someone there"

"Why not the others?"

"They wouldn't let me go and I _need _to go. I'll make you a deal?" I raised an eyebrow, what did she mean a deal? Was she going to blackmail me to come with her?

"Come with me and I personally will make sure that no one ever opens the files on the black box, no one will see your memories. Agreed?"

_This could be easier then trying to steal it back? It was so important for that box to stay shut, why not?_

"Agreed"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

The black box wouldn't leave me head, it was just sat there on a desk in front of me. Like it was begging to be opened, but wouldn't that be invading Ratchets privacy? It was his memories, it wouldn't be fair. Yet, curiosity begged me to open it, to see what Ratchet had seen that would help DESTROY take over the universe.

After 10 minutes of trying to force the idea out of my head and failing, I slipped the box into my lab coat and replaced it with the identical box that A.E.P.O gave me in case I could grab some of DESTROYs data,

_Wouldn't hurt to peek, right?_

"Annie!" Katheryn's yell surprised me as she ran over to my station, I tried to look natural but I was a little scared,

_Did she see me replace the box?_

"Christine sent me here to grab that box with Ratchets memories on, can I have it?" She asked innocently. I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, my fear leaving me, it looked like she hadn't seen me swap them over,

"Sure!" I said, handing her the fake drive. It sounded like they weren't going to open it,

"Thanks!" She almost skipped off, I waited until she had disappeared when I pulled the original out my pocket,

_This is so wrong but it could help us find out what DESTROY is up to? You need to do this! _Making sure the coast was clear, I pulled out my laptop from one of the cupboards above my station.

I kept checking that no one was coming whilst the laptop turned on and when I was waiting for the box to connect and load.

What did I see? What I least expected.

My eyes grew wider and wider as I shifted through each one,

_Ratchet knows Clank?_

_Ratchet helped save Solana?_

_Ratchet defeated Dr. Nefarious?_

_Ratchet killed Tachyon?_

_But this means..._

My mouth dropped open as it all suddenly hit me,

_It all makes sense now,_

Ratchet _is _The Lost Hero...

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

The rain plummeted on the car roof and the windscreen. We were parked outside the clock tower, just me and Ratchet. No one back at base knew where we were, what was happening. Hell, they didn't even know that someone wanted to meet me here. The moon hung bright in the sky, a full moon tonight. It was still visible, despite the rain clouds dominating the sky. A deathly silence hung in the air, the only sound was the rain as it crashed down,

"Are you ready?" Ratchet asked, looking at me concerned as he fiddled with his ear piece.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves, I didn't know why I was so nervous, I didn't even know why I was here, "Ready, you remember the plan?"

"Don't come in unless told otherwise? I remember. Good luck" Ratchet smiled an nodded. I nodded back before stepping out the car into the heavy rain, pulling my coat closer. The clock tower loomed over, looking intimidating above me,

_"Christine, you'll be alright" _Ratchets voice came through the ear piece, I turned to the car and smiled but I couldn't help but feel dread, like something was about to happen.

Taking another deep breath, I walked through the puddles up to the clock tower door. The wood was splintered around where it looked like a padlock usually was,

_Someone must've broken in_

I pushed the door open and stepped inside, out of the rain and into the darkness off the tower. There was a spiral staircase and nothing else, only the darkness and the fear in the air. I looked around my surroundings before stepping onto the stairs, they groaned slightly with my weight but they seemed secure enough to go up,

_"Anything?"_

"I'm going up the stairs now"

_"Be careful!" _I slowly made my way up as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. There was nothing on the walls or the staircase to give me a clue to who was also here, that didn't help my nerves in any way.

After at least a hundred steps I finally got to the top room, "I'm at the top!" It was a hexagon shaped room, the top of the staircase was in the middle of the room and on one wall was the clock face, lighting up the room with a dim glow. There were crates piled all over the room with a thick layer of dust resting on top,

"I thought I said come alone?" Sams voice called out, I turned towards where his voice had come from. He was stood at the top of the stairs, watching me from his little place. He wore a suit with a black tie, black leather gloves and his hair was neatly combed back,

"Looks like you dressed up since our last encounter"

He straightened his tie, "I like to dress for an occasion like this. Now, I bet your wondering what I was going to say to you before that explosion rudely cut us off!" His accent was different, it sounded more american than before,

"Please enlighten me" I gestured to him. He walked out of his place and stood opposite me,

"I guess your father never told you about the child your mother already had? Poor woman, she was so young when she gave me up but alas, she had no choice" He smiled a wicked grin.

Sam is my brother? My eyes widened in shock, "Your my brother?"_  
><em>

_"What? I did not expect that!" _Ratchet spoke in my ear,

"Half, I would never want to be associated with a human, not even a half. Which is why we're here!" He snarled before pulling out a gun and pointing it at my chest, "I belong to the purest race of warriors and it is my job to keep it that way"

I stared at the gun that was pointing straight at me. Weirdly, I didn't feel scared or anything, I felt almost calm. Like I was in control of the situation, "You don't have to follow orders" I commented,

"Yes, that was mothers big mistake and I don't wanna be like her, a failure"

I looked him right in the eyes, "This isn't about mum" I didn't know what was coming out my mouth, where these words were coming from,

"No, you're right. It's not about mom. It's about me and you"

_"Christine? What's happening?"_

"I lied. I'm following orders and a new one has just come through..."

"Sam, lis-" The gunfire echoed throughout the room and throughout the tower. The pain filled my body, burning every vein and muscle in my body. My vision grew hazy and unclear,

_"CHRISTINE?!"_

My breathing grew rapid and I had kept struggling for breath as I put a hand to where the pain was the worst. My hand touched something warm and sticky on my chest, I looked down to see my hand covered in scarlet blood, my blood.

_You've been shot you idiot..._

My legs grew weaker and I almost fell to the floor but Sam ran forward and catched me before I fell, "I'm sorry" He whispered, stoking my hair.

I didn't feel the second bullet enter my body through the explosion of pain in my body, I only heard it echo in the room. Sam let me fall completely onto the floor, crumpled up and clutching my stomach. Black spots were taking over my vision as my eye lids grew heavy, the darkness pulling me in,

_I'm going to die, aren't I? I'm going to die without Erik knowing where I am, without Micheal or Katheryn or Annie and Ratchet? This is the end, it's so painful._

_"Just let go" _I smiled weakly at the sound of my mothers voice.

The darkness won as the pain became too much and the last thing I heard before closing my eyes was Ratchet's voice sounding millions of miles away,

"Christine, stay with me!"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**That was a really long chapter! Longest I've ever written actually!**

**So, what happened at the end? Basically, Christine has been shot twice and she could die...**

**ENJOY THAT CLIFFHANGER!**

**NEXT:**

**Life or Death Part One: On the Edge**


	15. Life or Death Part 1: On the Edge

**Hello all!**

**Enjoying**** the cliffhanger? BOTH OF THEM?**

**The next few chapter hold the answers to _those_ questions...**

**How will Annie respond to her discovery about Ratchets true identity?**

**Most importantly...**

**Will Christine live or die?**

**Enjoy...**

**Life or Death Part 1: On the Edge**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

It's funny, when you have a bond with someone that is closer with family, you always feel complete with them. It's like you're both one person, you feel the same things they do. You both feel happy at the same time, you feel upset together. They complete you, without them all you can feel is a gaping hole where they should be.

How do you think I felt when I saw Christine in the clock tower? When I saw her blood covered body, her white t-shirt stained blood red? When I saw Ratchet's hands over hers, trying to stop the bleeding and his gloves covered in her blood?

The only emotion I was capable in that situation. Something I hadn't felt since the invasion on Fastoon.

Pain. Unimaginable emotional pain. Filling me up and taking over my body, my senses being overridden and my brain going into overdrive as my eyes fell onto my best friend as she clung onto life.

We were all sat in the waiting room of the A.E.P.O hospital, waiting for news. She was rushed into surgery as soon as we got here to have the bullets removed and so they could do as much as possible about the damage done to her body. Erik was a mess, pacing back and forth across the room and muttering under his breath. Annie was tucked away in one of the corner seats, away in her own world but often glancing over at Ratchet. Katheryn and Ratchet sat in the other seats opposite Annie, neither of them talking but Ratchet had his arm around Katheryn, offering some comfort. Usually this would bother me but seeing as my best friend could die at any moment I had more important things on my mind.

An hour passed, then two hours. Our patience was getting thinner but we still waited, silently crossing our fingers for good news. When it was nearing three hours a nurse walked in, making us all spring to our feet, "Are you all here for Christine West?"

Annie nodded, "How is she?"

"Not good, the shots penetrated both large and small intestines. We've done all we could but there's been too much damage"

"So what's next?" Ratchet asked,

The nurse took a deep breath, "We can keep her comfortable but you need to make a decision if you want to keep her on life support"

_No, please! I can't lose her!_

"You're saying there's nothing to be done?"

"I'm saying you need to call her family, get them here as soon as possible" A silence fell over us as it began to sink in what the nurse was telling us,

"We're her family" I spoke, it was true. None of us were related to Christine by blood but we were her family,

"In that case I'm very sorry"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

We followed the nurse out the room but I was wrapped up in my own thoughts. Was it my fault? I let her go in there alone and now she's on the edge of life or death and we had to choose for her, do we put her on life support and cross our fingers for a miracle or would we just be delaying the inevitable? There was a dull ache in my stomach, was it guilt? Am I to blame for all this? Does Sam know who I am? Is he trying to make me vulnerable by hitting weaknesses?

_'Questions, questions. You ask all these questions'_

"Ratchet!" A voice called out, grabbing my arm and pulling me to face them,

"Eve?" I asked in disbelief. She was dressed in a black armor with a red stripe down each side, not her usual black dress and purple cloak,

"I heard what happened. I'm really sorry" I narrowed my eyes, why was she being so... anti-Eve? Then I noticed her eyes, instead of blood red they were a deep purple, "What's with the eyes?" I asked,

"My device is malfunctioning, look there's no time for explanations. I think I know how to save Christine!"

"You what?" Annie wondered over, she must of noticed me not following,

"Think about it! Ratchet, whenever you got injured back home what did you have?" Eve looked at me, waiting for me to get something,

_Of course, _"Nanotech!"

"Exactly!" Eve grinned,

Annie frowned, "It wont work on her, she's a half. She's got both Vimton body parts and human. It wouldn't know which side to heal and could end up killing her instead"

"I know, but liquid nanotech would work because it would go into her blood stream!" Eve exclaimed. Annie frowned for a moment before looking excited,

"That could possibly work..." She frowned again, "But we don't have any here on earth?"

"I can take care of that! I have a device that would be able to teleport us to somewhere but I can't go alone otherwise the device wont work"

"Why?"

"We were working on that but then other stuff got in the way. Are you in or not?" I heard footsteps behind me and then Michael,

"What's going on here?" He demanded, glaring at the three of us,

"Eve knows how to save Christine but it involves us going back to space an-"

"No" Michael interrupted Annie,

"No?" I asked, surely Michael would be the one who would want us to save Christine?

"No, I'm going to make Sam pay for what he did to Christine" Michael clenched his fists, his face looked like it was trying to contain rage,

"Here's what we'll do, you and Katheryn go after Sam. Knowing Erik, he wont leave Christines side. Whilst you do that we'll go and get the nanotech and then give it to Christine"

Michael glared at Eve, "How do we know we can trust you?"

"Look into my eyes" Michael calmed a little when he saw that Eve wasn't evil in that moment,

"Fine, radio us what happens"

_Wait, what if we end up in Polaris?_

_I could go home!_

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

I stood at the end of Christines bed, Erik was sat on her right holding her hand tight, even though she wasn't holding back. Michael sat opposite him, having just stormed back into the room after some conversation with Annie and Ratchet. Neither of them had walked in but I was focusing on Christine.

The tubes going in and out of her, doing everything for her. Hydrating her, eating for her because of her intestines, even breathing for her. She was in a hospital gown, her bloody clothes thrown away after the surgery. Her hair was tucked behind her ears, the way she hated it. Michael leaned forward and moved it away, putting it down her shoulders the way she always had it styled. Her face was pale and almost hollow looking, her eyes were shut as she slept. The nurse told us that there was a 99% chance she wouldn't wake up again, what we needed was a miracle,

"Where's Annie and Ratchet?" Erik whispered, he was trying to stay strong but you could see in his eyes that his heart was breaking,

"Eve was here, she said she knows how to save Chris-" Michael swallowed, his breath catching on her name, "They've gone to get some nanotech of some kind"

Both mine and Eriks eyes grew wide, "What?" We said at the same time,

"Why didn't you go with them?" Erik demanded,

"Because I'm gonna find Sam and make him pay!" Michael exploded. You could see the pain in his eyes, the determination of getting payback on The Warrior who had put Christine on the edge of life and death, "You're gonna help me" Michael turned to me. I nodded, of course I would help. I wanted to make him pay too. For all the damage he has caused to Christine and my brother.

I would happily put a bullet in his brain, "How are we gonna find him?" I asked,

"Knowing him, he'll find us" Michael walked out the room in a hurry, like he wanted to get this twisted game over with. I walked over and hugged my brother,

"We'll make him pay, I promise" I felt him smile, knowing that when I make promises, I keep them.

_Then why are you so scared to tell Ratchet you know who he really is?_

"I know you will" He let me go, smiling a little before turning back to Christine laying in the bed. I ran after Michael into the corridor, almost running into a doctor,

"Sorry!" I yelled to him, not stopping. I noticed the back of a Lombax head and called out, "Michael!"

Ratchet turned around, "Please don't mix us up.." He pulled a face, I laughed a little as I stopped in front of him,

"Where's the girls?" I asked, looking around us,

"They went to grab the teleport thing so I said I'll stay here because..." He trailed off, looking everywhere but me,

"Because?" I prompted, he looked around before pulling me back into the waiting room next to us, where we had sat for nearly three hours with our tails between our legs (literally in the boys case...) waiting to hear about Christines fate.

Ratchet closed the door before leaning his forehead against it, "Ratchet?"

"This is my fault" He mumbled under his breath, so quiet I only just managed to hear him,

"How is this your fault?" He turned around, fiddling with his hands as he looked like he was trying to figure out what to say,

"Say you had a secret, something that could change everything. Then say someone found out that secret, let's say they wanted to expose it. What would they do? They would make that person vulnerable, hit a weakness. They would do it weakness by weakness. What will they do next?" He rambled, looking down at the carpet.

_He thinks Sam knows about him being the Lost Hero..._

"Listen to me" I walked over and put my hand under his chin, making him look at me, "This is not your fault. You heard what Sam said before the incident, he was following orders. Come on, if you are what I think you are then someone hitting a weakness would make you stronger"

"Who do you think I am?" He questioned, not in a worried way, more in a curious way. Only then did I notice how close we were to each other. We were practically breathing the same air, any closer and out noses would be touching,

_Someone who I have the urge to kiss... NO! What do I say? The Lost Hero? No, he would freak if I said that! An A.E.P.O agent? No, that's just cheesy... A Warrior? It's not really a good time to use that phrase... Screw it,_

"A hero" I whispered, we were so close he heard more clearly. For a second he looked confused before looking me right in the eyes. Time seemed to slow down and I can honestly say that I forgot everything. I forgot about Christine, I forgot about Sam, all I could focus on was Ratchets gaze,

_Wait, are we having a moment?!_

"We should, uh, we should go and, yeah..." He mumbled, looking away from me and ending the moment. I felt my face go hot with embarrassment,

_Times like these I am grateful for the fur covering my face..._

"Yeah, yeah..." I cleared my throat slightly as it grew awkward between us. Ratchet nodded slightly, turning around and opening the door to the hallway. We both hurried out and walked opposite ways, almost like we were trying to run away from the tension. I had to fight the urge to look behind me as I neared the corner.

Unfortunately the urge won and I turned to see him staring right at me with either a look of guilt or regret on his face. I smiled slightly, I knew it wouldn't help at all but still, what could I now do? He returned the smile before turning his back on me and walking around the corner near him,

"There you are!" Michael exclaimed, I turned to face him. He was frowning, looking between me and the spot where Ratchet was stood before, "What's up?"

"Nothing" I snapped, why was I being so defensive? I don't know why but looking at Michael I couldn't help but feel a little guilty,

"Right? Come on, we have work to do" Michael turned on his heel and went back around the corner. I sighed before following him,

_Time to focus..._

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

We stood in the hospital basement, Eve was setting up the teleporter as me and Ratchet stood around,

_No, as you and the Lost Hero stand around..._

"So how does this work?" Ratchet asked, nodding towards the teleporter. It was a small box with three handles coming out the sides. It was black with grey handles and a purple screen,

"If this works like it should do then it'll sort of tap into our minds" Eve began explaining, not looking up from what she was doing, "It'll take us somewhere where we've all been, I don't where that is but it should take us there"

"Axiom City?" Ratchet guessed, "Annie has been there and so have I bu-"

"You've been to Axiom City?" Eve looked up excitingly, "I've only been once but I was a very little so I don't remember it that well..."

_Hang on, Eve knows that Ratchet is the Lost Hero. Surely she already knew about the VX-99?_

"I went there for the spaceport..." Ratchet shrugged,

"More like destroy a VX-99 and break into Pollyx Industries..." I mumbled under my breath. Ratchet didn't hear me though, that was a conversation that could wait until Christine was in a better condition,

"It's working! Grab a handle!" Eve ordered, picking up the device by one of the handles. Ratchet and I exchanged looks before grabbing a handle,

_Can we really trust Eve?_

"We'll be going in 3...2...1!" The area surrounding us changed instantly, from the hospital basement to a place I had never seen before.

The planet had a strange sandy terrain but I could feel paving slabs underneath my feet. There was loads of broken pieces of rock surrounding us, varying in sizes. They looked like parts of a fallen down building, like there had been some kind of war and the buildings paid the price. In front of us was some kind of statues that looked like a load of cogs made into a pavement leading up. Behind that was a bridge with a computer station that was down. That looked like the newest thing in the area. Looking around I could also see what looked like broken pieces of some kind of turrets,

"We can't be..." Eve mumbled, looking around the area with her eyes full of what looked like fear,

"Where are we?" I asked. Eve had told us that the teleport would take us to somewhere the three of us had been and yet, I didn't recognize anything I saw but there was also a feeling of familiarity, it was look I knew what I was seeing but I was also seeing it for the first time. Ratchet swallowed when he turned to me,

"Annie, this is Fastoon..."

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**The amount of people who said that hated cliffhangers...**

**I guess I shouldn't say that there are worse ones to come?**

**Oops...**

**So what did we all think? Ratchet, Eve and Annie are home! AND EVE IS GOOD!**

**But for how much longer...?**

**FIND OUT IN:**

**Life or Death Part 2: Photograph**


	16. Life or Death Part 2: Photograph

**Hello all!**

**Ah, Part 2 :P What will happen?**

**Will Eve stay on Ratchet and Annie's side?**

**Will Ratchet contact Clank?!**

**Read to find out...**

**Life or Death Part 2: Photograph**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

"Annie, this is Fastoon..."

I stared at Ratchet with disbelief. This was the Lombax homeworld? It was a wreck! The Lombaxes were a great species, their planet shouldn't be like this! This is all wrong!

"Are you okay?" Ratchet asked, concern in his eyes. Eve was looking at me in the same way,

"I'm...I'm fine" I reassured them. I wasn't though, I was in disbelief about the whole situation,

"Hey Annie, look at it this way. You're home!" Eve began walking off towards the bridge,

"Where are you going?!" Ratchet asked, running after her.

_I know why you felt like you had seen it before, it was in Ratchets memories. This is where he found his ship and where he confronted Tachyon,_

"The Court of Azimuth! There's probably some liquid nanotech there!" Eve responded, not bothering to turn around. I remained frozen, I didn't want to see the leftovers of my species and yet, I wanted to see where I had come from, I wanted to know everything about this place.

_Hold on, Eve was six when she left here if I remember rightly. How does she know the way?_

"Come on Annie!" Ratchet shouted from the bridge, Eve had disappeared from view. I ran over to where he was stood and saw Eve was on the other side,

"Change of plans!" Eve exclaimed, looking towards a narrow passageway,

"What?" Both Ratchet and I demanded,

"We're going into the village!" Eve slipped into the passageway. Ratchet looked between me and Eve before shrugging and following her through the passageway. I took one last look at my surroundings before following after them, shaking my head slightly and mentally preparing myself for what I would see. The passage was dark and the only light source was the dim blue light on Ratchets armor, I used it as a guide through the passage,

_How does Eve know the way to the village?_

After at least ten minutes of walking I saw the crack of daylight at the end of the tunnel. Ratchet looked over his shoulder at me and gave a small smile of encouragement,

_Think about it, you and Ratchet are the same age so that means you were both newborn cubs when Fastoon fell. He has no idea about the village either, it wasn't in his memories. He's probably as scared of what he might see as you are,_

"Welcome to the village Zamora! Here you will find the old homes of great Lombaxes, for example the greatest Lombax technician that ever lived, Henri Green and the keeper of the Dimensionator, Kaden!" Eve put on the impression of a tour guide. Both me and Ratchet stopped short when she said the names of our fathers,

_I lived here?!_

"We lived here?" Ratchet frowned at Eve,

"Yes you did! So did I but that's not important" Ratchet walked forward a few steps, taking in his surroundings.

The village was fairly simple, one long road running through the middle of two rows of small homes facing opposite each other. The homes were a metallic grey colour, the window panes painted white and the front doors (the ones that remained) were a different colour on each home. All the homes were still standing, although they had different kinds of damage. Some had holes in the roofs and some were missing their roofs all together, most of them had broken windows and burn patterns in the red grass outside the homes.

I could see the corner of something trapped under a rock, from where I stood it looked like a scrap of paper.I marched over the Fastoon soil and pulled the paper out. My breath caught in my throat as I studied the picture in my hand.

It was a group of Lombaxes in a uniform of some kind, the men were all in the uniform and the woman were holding their arms, looking like they were proud to be with them. Some had children and babies in their arms. Next to a white and red striped Lombax was a person who looked just like Ratchet. He was smiling at his wife and son,

"That's my father, Kaden" Ratchet spoke, making me jump, "That white and red Lombax next to him is General Alister Azimuth. They were in the Lombax Praetorian Guard together, and that" he pointed at the baby in Kaden's wife's arms, "is me. I didn't know this photo existed actually. Looks like we all might of known each other as kids..." He pointed to the group of children at the front of the group that looked like much, much younger versions of Erik, Eve and Katheryn. Next to them was Michael as a child, holding a small baby, I could feel a sob rising in my throat as I figured out who the baby was, "It's me..." I whispered.

There was a tall brown and gold striped male Lombax with his hand of Michaels shoulder, smiling down at me with his other arm around a smaller matching female Lombax, who was beaming at him and her family with pride.

My parents.

Finally, after years of wondering I knew what they looked like. I had a family member still alive and with me but I didn't feel happy. I didn't feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I felt empty, everything I had been wanting to know had finally come out and I felt sorrow.

A single tear dropped down my cheek, a tear filled with heartache, a tear full of loss. A tear of nothingness,

"You know, up until now I had no idea what my mother looked like, I still don't know her name. I know what you're feeling right now, I felt the same when I finally saw a picture of my dad, when I finally found out what his name was" Ratchet pulled me into a hug, I wanted to push him away because I was angry at him for lying about the Lost Hero thing but at the same time I was grateful to know someone had felt like this before, been through this in a similar way,

"If you guys are done then we have a situation!" Eve appeared out of a door that was blown in half,

"That was someones home!" Ratchet pulled away and went over to Eve,

"It's my home and I think you need to see this!"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

We followed Eve back into her home, wondering what the hell she was talking about. I kept throwing Annie glances, making sure she was okay seeing as she had just found a photo of her parents and herself as a baby after only finding out their names no more than five days ago,

"Ratchet, we have a situation" Eve was stopped in the living room. There were photos all over the walls of different Lombaxes, although I could tell that some of them were of Erik, Katheryn and Eve when they were small children. There was one of Erik dressed in what looked like a uniform for an academy of some kind, there were a few of Eve and Erik on a beach planet and then there were tons of Katheryn as a tiny toddler. I even spotted one of Erik with Michael, both of them in the academy uniform. Erik was holding baby Katheryn and Michael was giving Eve a piggy back.

There was nothing else in the room except a TV and the photos,

_Creepy..._

"Ratchet, watch this" Eve nodded to the TV. There was a news report playing, I narrowed my eyes. Why did Eve want me to watch a news report?

"Now, for our main feature. The inter-galactic Hero, Ratchet, is still missing and is presumed dead. Ratchet is part of the heroic duo, Ratchet and Clank who bought down Dr. Nefarious, Emperor Tachyon and the Prog Twins with their evil Nethers and saved Polaris Galaxy several times. Ratchet went missing nearly five months ago and is nowhere to be found. Ratchet was last seen in Metropolis with Clank before disappearing. His ship, Aphelion, last known location was near Torren VI. Many believe him to be dead but a team at the Polaris Defense Force that includes Captain Qwark, Talwyn Apogee and Clank are still currently searching and ask that if anyone finds Ratchet they should call in or bring the Lombax in themselves. They will receive a large reward if they do so. Now for the weather..." Eve turned the Channel 4 news off, watching me carefully.

The galaxy thinks I'm dead. They think I got myself killed. They believe I perished?!

Except my friends. They all still believe I'm alive. I should feel happy about that but I don't. I feel guilty that I'm making them live in hope, I feel guilty that I haven't tried to get a message out to them. I feel guilty for so many reasons, letting myself have these moments with Katheryn and forgetting Talwyn. Bond with Annie and Erik the way I bonded with Clank. Hell, I even felt a little guilty for comparing Michael to Qwark,

Wait, no I don't...

"Well, look's like we have a problem..." Annie spoke.

_Oh crap, did she see all of that? They said what I had done, what the Lost Hero had done..._

"Relax _Lost Hero, _I already knew" She stood in front of me and glared at me,

"You WHAT?" I asked, feeling very confused. How? How could she have possibly knew?

_THE BOX WITH YOUR MEMORIES!_

A white hot pain spread throughout my cheek when Annie slapped me hard across the face. Eve stood of to the side, her mouth hanging open at what was happening in front of her, "Did you really think I wouldn't look?"

"They were my memories, you had no reason!"

"No reason? Ratchet, do you really think I wouldn't want to know why DESTROY wanted them for themselves? They said you had seen something that would help them DOMINATED THE WHOLE UNIVERSE! Why did you lie about the Lost Hero?!"

"Wait, you're angry at me for lying when you've basically just LOOKED INSIDE MY MIND?!" Have you ever seen an angry Lombax? They basically look like what both me and Annie looked like in that moment, fists clenched, ears lying flat against our heads and teeth bared, "You wanna know why I lied?"

"Please!" She said sarcastically,

"I had no choice! I had been sent to some planet six light years away from my home and first thing I did was put them all in danger! By accident! Now there's stuff like Protocol 10 and-"

"Wait, you're worried about Protocol 10?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Ratchet, it's not what it sounds like! All it is is- Ratchet?!" A sharp pain hit me in the back of the head, making me fall down and the world began to fade around me, "Did you really think I had turned good?" The last thing I saw before falling unconscious was Eve hit Annie in the side of the head, giving her the same treatment as me.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHEAL**

"20 DESTROY soldiers not a single one of them knows Sam?" Katheryn said, pacing around the interrogation room. We had just spent the last four hours questioning the soldiers and we had gotten nothing from anyone. In fact, they all had claimed that they didn't even know him or The Warrior, even though they were the same guy. It looked like Eve was the only person who did know him but she was somewhere with Annie and Ratchet and we couldn't get hold of them,"What do we do now?" Kath looked at me like she was expecting something,

"The only person who seems to know him is currently with Annie and Ratchet" I stood up and starting heading towards the door, a plan beginning to form in my head, "So?"

"So, we get hold of them and talk to her!" I walked out the room and headed towards the elevators,

"How?! We have no way of getting hold of them!" Katheryn ran to catch up with me,

"Look, before I found you again at the hospital I spoke to Ratchet, right before you did. I told him that there was a chance we wouldn't be able to talk to them, he told me to go to his ship and find the communicator. He said that if they ended up in somewhere like Polaris then his radio and nav-unit would work again so he would be able to contact his ships communicator and talk to us"

"So what are we doing?"

"As we're told, I guess..."

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

"Annie? Can you hear me?" My head killed, a pulsing pain at the right of my face, "Annie, wake up!" Ratchet sounded close by but a little groggy, like he had just woken up,

_"Did you really think I had turned good?" _So that was Eves plan, lead us to a galaxy 6 light years away from Earth and where Ratchet was wanted and then abandon us, let us think of something, "I'm alive" I mumbled, forcing my eyes open.

Ratchet was sat next to me, looking around us to see where we were. I sat up and looked myself, it looked like a settlement of some kind. A river was flowing around the center platform that we were lying on, further along I could see the outline of some statues, one looking familiar and what looked like a water gate of some kind. Above us was the night sky, the stars of Polaris bearing down on us. In the middle of us was a light grub, the only light source that was here, there was no one in site but the tell tail signs of life were dotted around us, "Where are we?" I asked, looking over at Ratchet. He stood up and put the grub at the end of his wrench, walking around he looked like he recognized it all, "The battle..." he mumbled under his breath,

"What?"

"The battle of Gimlick Valley, that's where we are, Gimlick Valley. I came here once with Clank and changed a part of the Fongoid history so they won a battle" Ratchet walked up the one of the silhouettes with the light grub, illuminating a stone version of his own face, "Why would Eve bring us here?"

I remembered a book I had read as a child back in Axiom, "Some Fongoids are known for their healing powers, they can make a natural healing serum that's similar to liquid nanotech"

Ratchet frowned, "So Eve is still trying to save Christine? So why did she knock us out on Fastoon?"

Then I remembered what the book had also said, "We can get the serum but we can't give it Christine"

"Why?"

"Fongoids don't have technology, which means we can't go back"

"Actually, we might be able to help you with that" Both Ratchet and I jumped a little in surprise at the Fongoid behind us, "We have now embraced technology! Yay for technology!"

_That's not right..._

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**Why did I bring in Fongoids you ask?**

**You'll see soon...**

**So I'm sure a few of you are thinking _'Hey, if Ratchets in Polaris again, will Clank appear?' _and to you I say... SPOILERS.**

**Oh, and I'm sorry for the lack of Katheryn and Michael, there is a reason behind that that will soon be seen...**

**NEXT:**

**Life or Death Part 3: A Darkened Spirit **


	17. Life or Death Part 3: A Darkened Soul

**Ah, update time!**

**I love this time, it's nice to think of new ways to torture your feelings whilst listening to soothing music...**

**I kid, I kid.**

**Sometimes the music isn't that soothing...**

**I love you guys really, 70 reviews! I didn't expect to get this far with this story so thank you! It means a lot!**

**Also, I've edited chapter 1 & 2 of this story and given them major improvements so you might wanna check those out!**

**Life or Death part 3: A Darkened Spirit**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

"Have you heard anything from them yet?" I asked Michael for the millionth time. Eve, Ratchet and Annie had now been gone for at least five hours and Christine was growing worse by the minute. The doctor had told us that it could be any moment now, they had put her on life support to buy us some more time but to be honest I don't think they believe that we can save her.

When Michael and I had gone back to the hospital after interrogating the DESTROY soldiers Christine had more tubes on her, doing even more to keep her going. Erik was in the same place that he was in before we left, except he had changed out of the shirt and jeans he was wearing and had put on some dark blue scrubs with a black long sleeved shirt underneath. He had a pair of surgical gloves on and wouldn't stop twisting his hands together in a nervous fashion. He kept glancing between Christine and . When Michael saw him all he could was demand what had happened,

"H-her heart rate dropped rapidly and then her heart stopped. We... um... we managed to get it started again and she's now stable but we've got to keep an eye on her at all times. You know, in case she..." Erik couldn't complete his sentence but we knew what he meant, in case her heart stopped again, in case she almost dies again.

"No, there's nothing" Michael responded in the same way as the first million times, in a defeated way. He kept poking the communicator we had pulled out from Aphelions wreckage, hoping to hear Annie or Ratchet or Eve voices come through, telling us that they were on their way back with the nanotech to save Christine's life but there was also a deep feeling in my stomach, I couldn't but feel that only two of the three Lombaxes that had left will return. I couldn't help but think that only Annie and Eve would return because Ratchet is probably going to stay behind, he had told me that Polaris was his home and I couldn't blame him, there he didn't have to live a lie or hid from some protocol. Polaris was where his life was, it's where his friends are, it's where Clank is but there was a part of me that was hoping he would come back to Earth with the others but I also knew there was a very slim chance of that happening and I just had to deal with it and move on, "Are we just gonna sit here and wait?" Michael kept poking the device with a pencil, ignoring my question,

"You know this situation has got me thinking..." Michael said absentmindedly, he glanced up at me for a moment before poking at the communicator again,

"What about?" I asked, watching him poke the communicator,

"The fact that at any moment, all of this could be taken away. If the Lost Hero ever became known, if we fail to stop an invasion and we all get killed or something little like a bullet could end everything and you think that you have all this time to do everything but the truth is that we don't know how long we have, we don't know when it could all be ended for us. Hell, we have no idea how much time we have and yet, we do nothing with the time we do have" Michael put down the pencil and looked up at me, almost like he was waiting for a reaction. All I could do was frown, Michael was almost acting out of character, like Christine being on the edge of the life or death has taken something away in him, "What are you saying?"

"I guess I'm saying that we should take every moment that is handed to us, I mean look at us two. I'm 38 and you're 32 and in those years we've had moments where it felt like it was all over and we've done nothing about that, we should live life whilst we have it, right?"

_Right,_

I thought about all the little moments that had happened to me since coming here, the ones that made me feel like I have something to live for, when I had first got here and seeing Eve again after she went missing, meeting Micheal and Christine when I first came here, growing closer to them to the point they were like my family, when I heard of the Lombax from Solana who had saved the galaxy, when I first saw Christine and Erik together as a couple and knowing that they were made for each other, helping Annie settle in this place when she got here, working with them as a team, meeting Ratchet, rescuing Erik, watching him and Christine reunite, Ratchet's face when Erik gave him a sample of the wedding cake they were having, growing closer to Ratchet as friends, the time when-

"Katheryn?" Micheal waved his hands in front of my face, bringing me out my thoughts, "You were in your own little world"

"It's not like I'm missing much" I gave the communicator a nudge with my boot. Suddenly a load of lights began flashing on it and a crackling sound blasted out the speakers, "What did you do?!" Michael pressed a few buttons, trying to figure out what was happening,

_"Michael? Katheryn? Anyone?! Can anyone read me?!" _It was a bad connection but both mine and Michaels ears pricked up as we recognized the voice speaking,

"Ratchet! We hear you!" I spoke, inwardly sighing in relief that they were alright,

_"Finally!"_

"What's happened so far? Give us an update!"

_"We landed on Fastoon of all places, Annie was a bit funny but she's okay now. We've seen your childhood home and pictures of Erik and Michael when they were ten so that's made my day" _Michael looked horrified and leant forward to speak when Ratchet cut him off, _"Eve turned on us, knocked us out cold. We don't know why but we're now in Gimlick Valley..."_

Michael frowned, "Isn't that a Fongoid settlement?"

_"Yeah Michael, it is but there's something suspicious going on, they say they've 'embraced' technology"_

"Fongoids and technology don't belong together..."

_"Exactly, but they say they can help us. Hopefully we will be back soon with something that could save Christine, how's she doing?"_

"Only just holding on, her heart stopped at one point but they got it going again, she's stable for now"

_"We'll be as fast as we can. I've gotta go, maintain radio silence"_

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

_"Copy, give us another update __soon" _Katheryn asked through the radio. I nodded slightly, even though she couldn't see me. Annie and I were following the Fongoid who had approached us earlier, the one who had said they now embraced technology. He was leading us to what they called 'The Infinity Gate', he claimed that it was what helped them get into technology but looking around the settlement it had looked like it had not changed at all since me and Clank were here last. All the huts we passed had candles lighting them up, there were no power generators anywhere, there were camp fires burning around, filling the air with a smokey smell,

"So how long have you guys had technology for?" Annie asked, walking between me and the Fongoid,

"Not long, we first got it when we received the gate" The Fongoid made a sharp left turn into a crack in the stone wall that lined the pathway we had been walking on previously, Annie followed him but I stayed behind. Something still felt wrong but all of this, it felt like something bad was about to happen. I silently drew out my blaster and made sure the chamber was full before placing it back,

_Just in case,_

"Ratchet, come see this!" Annie yelled from the inside of the wall. I squeezed through the crack, only just fitting through. I wasn't ready for what was on the other side. It looked like a temple, it had beautiful carvings running up the purple stone walls. A machine was in the center of the room, it was in the shape of an arch and was made out of a metal of some kind and there was a strange feeling in the area surrounding it. It made my fur stand on end and I felt more and more uneasy the closer I got to it,

"What is it?" Annie asked in awe, her eyes were filled with wonder as she gazed upon the contraption,

"We call it the Infinity Gate"

"What does it do?"

"We are not too sure, legends say that it will lead you to the creature that judges the universe"

"Nice fairytale" I muttered,

"That might be but we believe the stories" The Fongoid walked forward to the machine and pressed a button on the side. The gate started making a humming noise and a purple hole of some kind appeared in the center. It reminded me of the Dimensionator and how Tachyon taunted me with my only chance to join the Lombaxes or when Vendra Prog used it and was betrayed by Mr. Eye that I then had to defeat, "It could also be used as a teleporter for those in need" The Fongoid pressed the button again and the purple turned into a harsh red,

_This doesn't seem right,_

"We will get you the serum you require and them the gate will take you back to Earth" Annie looked up in shock and I frowned. Polaris didn't know about Earth, it was 6 light years away and around here it was a myth. Yet, this Fongoid knew about Earth and the fact that Earth was where the serum needed to go,

"How did you know about Earth?!" I demanded, The Fongoid covered his mouth and shrank back,

"My master will be so mad!" The Fongoid squeaked, his eyes wide with fright,

"You have a master?" Annie asked,

_I swear if it's Nefarious then I'm gonna break his other eye,_

"Yes, he came here recently and promised to protect us as long as we did what he said"

"Does he have a name?"

"No, he has not told us it"

"Is he a robot with an intense hatred for 'squishes'?" I blurted out, Annie frowned at me but the Fongoid took me seriously,

"No, it is who you think it is" I sighed in relief, glad it wasn't Nefarious back. The Fongoid pulled a serum out of his pocket, it was a bright green colour with black specks of something inside. It had a dull glow, making it look almost toxic, "This is the healing serum, take it" Annie took it off the Fongoid and examined the contents, "All I ask is you call the authorities!"

"Why?!"

"My master is training us for war and has warned us that if any Fongoid called out that they will be punished in a horrible manner!"

_I know just the robot to call,_

"Do you have a transmitter anywhere?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ERIK**

"ERIK I'VE GOT NANOTECH!" I heard the pounding footsteps of Eve running towards the room, she had the one thing that could save Christine but I had other problems,

"Her heart is failing, starting CPR!" I yelled to the other doctors and nurses in the room as they all rushed around as Christine's heart rate grew lower and lower, "She's circling the drain!" Another doctor yelled as I kept pressing my hands down on her heart, hoping to get it back to normal. I could feel my own heart pounding with horror as I tried to keep her alive, I _needed _her.

Eve ran in holding up a blue vial, her face filled with hope but fell quickly as she saw the scene happening around her, "Get that into a syringe, we need to inject it straight into her bloodstream!" Eve shouted over the noise, handing the vial over to my shaking hands and taking over the compression's on Christine's heart. My hands shook as I put the liquid nanotech into the syringe, My eyes blurring with tears of frustration as I poured her only chance of survival into a needle, "Inject her!" Eve stared at me, willing for me to inject her,

"Where?!"

"It doesn't matter, she has seconds!"

_If you don't inject her you'll lose her,_

_If you inject it and it goes wrong you could lose her,_

"Erik now!" I took a deep breath and plunged the needle into her arm, right into the veins that were standing out in her elbow. My guts twisted with fear as everyone stepped back, waiting to see what happened. Her heart monitor went back to normal as the nanotech ran through her body, a great relief radiated throughout us all, "It worked..." A nurse told us all, the same nurse who told us she was going to die and there was nothing they could do,

_"Erik? Erik, are you there?"_ Katheryn spoke over the radio in my ear,

"We got the nanotech, she's going to be alright!"

_"How did you get the nanotech? Ratchet and Annie are still in Polaris and Eve is missing?"_

"Shes right here..."

_"Erik, listen to me carefully. You can't trust her, she's not-" _The radio went dead and Katheryn was cut off with whatever she was saying. Something had happened, something bad, "We need to get to Michael and Katheryn now!" I told Eve, she was the only person in here who could help me, even if Katheryn had just told me not to trust her,

"Why?" She asked, confused with why I was asking her,

"Something bad has happened, I just know"

"How can we help them?"

"I can help with that" We both turned to the voice of the girl who had almost died a minute ago, "Nanotech! Just what I needed!" Christine grinned, pulling all the wires off her as everyone stood with their jaws wide open, me and Eve included, "What?"

"You were dying a moment ago!" I pointed out to her,

"Nanotech works fast on me I guess? Now, how can I help?" She asked, pulling the final few wires off her arms. Did she really think that I would let her back in the field after she was shot twice and almost killed?

"You stay here" I told her,

"What? Why?"

"Because you were shot twice in the chest and almost died! I can't let you go out there, not yet!" I told her before turning to the hospital staff, "Make sure she doesn't leave this room!"_  
><em>

"Erik!" I ignored her pleading look as I grabbed a laptop and passed it to her,

"If you wanna help from this bed then see if you can track Ratchet's nav-unit" I said without looking at her, I knew if I looked at her I would probably give in and let her go, "Fine" She muttered.

I nodded and walked out the room, Eve following behind me, "Why are you trusting me?" She question almost as soon as we were out of ear shot,

"I don't, Katheryn told me about you leaving Ratchet and Annie in Polaris but-"

"Wait, what?"

"Don't play dumb! You, Annie and Ratchet went to get Christine nanotech and then you left them there"

Eve's next sentence made me start to worry about them all, "Erik, I haven't been to Polaris since we left"

"How am I suppose to trust you?"

"What would I achieve by leaving those two in space? I wouldn't benefit with them there!"

_That makes sense... Crap..._

"Wait, if you didn't go with them then why did you bring me some nanotech?" I looked her right in the eyes and only then did I notice that they were a purple shade, not blood red like normal, "Look, I might be all evil and that but you're still my brother! You love Christine and I respect that and I wasn't going to sit by and let her die!"

_Don't trust her, she's not Eve..._

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**ANNIE**

"Clank? Look, I haven't got a lot of time so this is gonna be short and I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry about everything, I'm sorry that I've disappeared on you all. Aphelion and I came to a strange... portal thing and we went through and ended up on the other side of the universe but I'm alive! I'm alright and that was terrible!" Ratchet deleted the message for the fifth time in frustration,

"Ratchet you need to send something so we can go save Christine" I told him quietly. The Fongoid had stepped outside after giving us the transmitter, it was a little one that the galactic authorities said was required on every planet, "I know, I know. It's just that this is the message that tells them I'm alive and where I am but I feel like I need to apologize to them as well..."

"I understand" I knew this was probably hard for him, I couldn't imagine what I would be feeling if it was me. How were you suppose to tell your closet friends that you weren't dead but you were on the other side of the universe?

Ratchet nodded before pressing the record button again, "Okay, so I don't quite know what to say to you, Clank. I guess I should explain what happened to me first? Aphelion and I encountered a strange portal thing and we were heading straight for it and had no hope of escaping. We went through and crash landed on a planet called Earth in the Milky Way Galaxy." Ratchet took a deep breath, "Earth is six light years away from Polaris and Solana so there's a slim chance I can come home. I'm sorry" Ratchet looked away from the screen, you could see the pain on his face and hear the hurt in his voice, "I really am. I know everyone thinks I'm dead and maybe you should keep it like that. It would be easier than looking for me, I guess? I miss you guys, I mean Earth is alright and there was five other Lombaxes there so I've found others but I miss you all and I'm sorry"

Ratchet looked like he was about to go on when a twisted voice came through the portal, "I see you Lombax, I have them"

Both me and Ratchet looked at the portal in alarm, "Alright pal, I haven't got much time so I need you to do me a favor! Come back to Gimlick Valley with the Q-Force or the defense force and free the Fongoids! They have some master and they need to be freed! Do it for me!" Ratchet pressed the send button before dropping the transmitter on the ground, "What was that?!"

"I don't know but I think it was talking to you..." Ratchet looked horrified,

"What does 'I have them' mean? Who's them?" The portal answered for him,

"SOMEONE HELP US!" Katheryns scream came through the portal,

"That's that answered!" I told him. We were both about to say something when I felt a hand on my back, the same hand was on Ratchet's back,

"Don't worry, I will help you" The Fongoid muttered before pushing us both forward into the portal. Both Ratchet and I screamed as we fell forward and were blinded by a white light, we had no idea where we were going, what was happening and why the Fongoid pushed us in the portal. The light disappeared and for a moment I felt disorientated, was I on my feet or lying down? Was I upside down or right side up? Was I facing up or facing the ground?

My head cleared up after a moment, I was lying down a dirt pile of some kind in a dark room. No, it wasn't a room it was a cave. There was no natural light but there were hundreds upon thousands of fireflies lighting up the area, making it beautiful and peaceful. I heard a moan next to me and looked over to see Ratchet sitting up, "This is why I hate portals" He muttered, stretching out his arms. He looked around him and spotted me lying beside him, "Are you alright?"

I sat up slowly and tested my arms and legs, they ached but were still moving without any pain, "Yeah, I'm alright. What happened?"

Ratchet opened his mouth to answer but a different voice spoke up, "We were all knocked out or tricked and brought here" Katheryn, Michael and Eve were stood in front of us, watching what we were doing. Ratchet jumped up and stormed over to Eve, "Why the hell did you knock us out on Fastoon?!"

"I didn't, someone wearing a hologuise to look like me did"

_What?_

"That doesn't matter now, we have bigger issues right now" Michael nodded towards a tunnel leading away from where we were all stood,

"What's down there?" I asked the group,

"The Beast" Eve replied, actually looking a little scared,

"The what?"

"BURN WITH ME" A deep cry sounded out from the tunnel, making the walls and the Lombaxes inside shake with fear,

"Only way out of here is killing it"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**YAY CHRISTINE!**

**So who is the Eve with Erik? **

**What's the beast?**

**How will they defeat him?**

**NEXT:**

**Life or Death Part 4: Infinity**


	18. Life or Death Part 4: Infinity

**This idea just suddenly came to me whilst listening to The Hanging Tree from The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 so this song is in it (No, Ratchet is not going to burst into song...)**

**Anyway, I think this could end up being one of my best chapters so I hope you enjoy!**

**EDIT: So it turns out there was a major plot hole in this chapter and I had to take it down to fix the problem so sorry for an inconvenience caused!**

**Enjoy!**

**Life or Death Part 4: Infinity **

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

We walked in a single file down the cavern tunnel, Michael, Eve, Annie, me and Ratchet following the path that could ultimately lead us to the end of everything. A deathly silence hung above us, not a single person wanting to speak about what was to come, none of us dared. The only sounds in the cavern were the echoing footsteps of the group, the distant echoes of the beast and the quick breathing of the little band of fighters. The pathway was lit with what looked like fireflies, giving the passageway a beautiful glow but no one spoke of the beauty. The beasts echoes grew louder, telling us we were getting closer to the end.

Ratchet was the first to see the beast in the cavern, he stopped dead and we all crashed into the back of him. I looked up to see what had made Ratchet stop so sudden, why the room had grown to high temperatures and the atmosphere had given a dramatic twist from almost peaceful to fear. My eyes meet the beasts, his fiery eyes burning into my mind. He was like a miniature sun, burning bright in the center of the room with a twisted face staring and screaming at us,

"How the hell do we fight that?!" Annie was staring open mouthed at the creature in front of us, in what looked like fear and shock. Ratchet glanced at her before walking forward, it looked like he was going to try and reason with it. I walked next to Ratchet and grabbed his arm to make him face me, "We're gonna fight it, aren't we?" I spoke in a low voice so the others couldn't hear us, Ratchet just smiled at me,

"Regrettably, yes, I think we may be about to do that..." I frowned at Ratchet,

"It's really big" I stated the obvious,

"I've seen bigger" Ratchet stared at the creature and swallowed,

"Really?"

"Are you joking?! It's massive!" Ratchet stared at me in horror, I shook my head,

"Let me take this one" I told him before walking forward to face the creature, "Who are you?" I demanded,

"I am the monster under the bed, I am the shadow in the darkness, I am the plague of your nightmares. I am fear and death. You all live in fear of me" It hissed at me, his very voice filled me with terror, like it was his power of speech that shook me to my core, "How poetic" Eve spat. The beast screamed at her in rage,

"You all live in fear of me, in fear of my judgement since the beginning of time. Every species on the planet, the galaxy, the universe shake in terror at my presence. No one dares to face me. I am a god in the eyes of man"

"No, no one is like that" Ratchet walked forward, "I've seen people who believe that they are that powerful and do you know what happened to them? They died, they were destroyed, but who killed them?"

"There is no one like me" The Beast ignored Ratchet's question but all of us turned to Ratchet,

"The Lost Hero killed them and millions, me included, are alive because of that and those people died because they believed they had the power to rule over us." Ratchet yelled at the beast, rage filled his eyes but his face was calm but you could almost see the explosion happening inside his mind as he faced a foe that believed the same as the others. Annie, Eve and I stared at him in shock whilst Michael stood behind us looking confused, he couldn't see Ratchets face at all. The Beast went quiet for a moment before laughing at him, burning even brighter,

"You're alone. The world which shook at your feet and the sky have gone. And you are alone now. Alone in the perfect prison and the only thing that could destroy you is impossible when you're down here" Eve walked right up to the creature, "I know what it's like to be trapped" She was about to speak again when the Beast cut her off,

"I am not trapped!" The creature screamed, firing something at Eve. She flew back and hit her head on the wall before collapsing on the ground. Michael and Annie ran over to her, "Ratchet, the only way to destroy him is to make everyone stop being scared" Eve mumbled from her spot on the ground,

"How do we do that?" Ratchet spun around to face us all, "How do we stop people being scared?!" He questioned us,

"You can't" The Beast spat, "No one can"

Then something strange happened, all our radios turned on and hundreds of voices came through,

_"Are you, are you  
>Coming to the tree?<br>Wear a necklace of hope,  
>Side by side with me.<br>Strange things did happen here  
>No stranger would it be<br>If we met at midnight  
>In the hanging tree" <em>

Thousands of singing voices filled the air, Ratchet, Annie and The Beast frowned at the voices but the rest of us grinned at the old Lombax song, "Erik is a genius" Michael grinned, "We sang this as children around the campfire, different species gathered around and we would all sing this, it sounded beautiful and it gave us hope for the times that followed"

_"Are you, are you  
>Coming to the tree?<br>Where I told you to run,  
>So we'd both be free.<br>Strange things did happen here  
>No stranger would it be<br>If we met at midnight  
>In the hanging tree" <em>

The voices kept going, me, Eve and Michael sang along to the song of our childhood, I remembered hearing it on Fastoon, we were all gathered in the square together just after it was announced that the Cragmites had returned, that Tachyon had sworn revenge on us hiding the truth of his heritage from him. It had started with a single voice, my mothers voice, and by the second verse nearly every Lombax was singing, all the men, women and children. I remembered that for a moment we all had felt hope,

"Okay then. That's what I'll do. I'll tell you a story." Ratchet faced the Beast, he pointed at us singing with the thousands of voices "Can you hear them? All these people who lived in terror of you and your judgment? All these people whose ancestors devoted themselves, sacrificed themselves to you? Can you hear them singing? Oh, you like to think you're a god. But you're not a god. You're just a parasite." Ratchet sneered at the Beast as we repeated the song "Eat now with jealousy and envy and longing for the lives of others. You feed on them. On the memory of love and loss and birth and death and joy and sorrow, so... so come on then." Ratchet smirked at the beast, offering himself to the Creature "Take mine. Take my memories. But I hope you're got a a big appetite." A golden beam grabbed Ratchet's wrist, making his whole arm jerk out, "Because I've lived a crazy life. And I've seen a few things." His other wrist was grabbed with the same beam, the Beast smirked at what he was doing but the singing grew louder as more joined in over the radio, "I have saved thousands of people. I was the last Lombax in existence for years and years. I saw the horror of the universe and watched as time twisted innocent people, moment by moment, until nothing of them remained. No hope, no future. Just me to stand in their way! I walked in galaxies where the laws were devised by the mind of a madman! And I watched planets freeze and creations burned! I have seen things you wouldn't believe! I am the Lost Hero and I have lost things you will never understand! And I know things, secrets that must never be told, knowledge that must never be spoken! Knowledge that will make parasite gods blaze! So come on then! Take it! Take it all! Have it! You have it all!" Ratchet yelled the last part as the beast grew brighter and brighter before disappearing in a burst of light, making Ratchet fall to his knees as the grip between the two let go. The singing ended, the silence taking back over. The only sound was Ratchet's heavy breathing and his speech hung in the air, burning into our minds,

"You're the Lost Hero?" Michael asked, open mouthed at what had just happened. Ratchet turned to Michael, rolling his eyes,

"Took you long enough to figure it out..." Suddenly a huge ball of light appeared back in the room, brighter than before as the creature took back it's shape, "You've got to be kidding me!" Ratchet pulled himself back up, he looked exhausted but he was going to offer himself up for round two?

_No, it's my turn,_

I walked up and put my hand on Ratchet's shoulder, "Let me do this" I told him before facing the Creature, "Still hungry? Well I brought something for you. My mind that has been twisted and tortured to think a new reality. It's full of stories. Full of history. And full of a future that never got lived. Days that should have been and never were. Everything that I imagined as a child. It isn't just full of the past, it's a whole future that never happened. Full of the imaginations of a child who thought she didn't have a future as her planet suffered. There are millions and millions of unlived days for every day we live—an infinity. All the days that never came. And all this because someone with power destroyed what could of been." Tears were rolling down my cheeks, a sob raising in my throat as I thought of all the days that I wished happened. The tug on my mind grew weaker as the Beast took it all in, every day I wished had happened and every memory I had poured into his mind,

"Well? Come on then. Eat up." Ratchet walked over to me and put his hand on my shoulder "Are you full? I'd think so because there's quite a difference isn't there? Between what was and what should have been. There's an awful lot of one but there's an infinity of the other and an infinity is too much. Even for your appetite." The Beast screamed in rage as it folded in on itself before exploding in a huge ball of fireflies, "It's okay, it's over" Ratchet pulled me into a hug as the tears continued to pour down my face as I thought of every moment that had poured into that beasts mind, what I had exposed him to.

I pulled away and wiped my face, "Sorry about that" I told Ratchet, my voice thick from crying,

"No need to apologize" He smiled at me and I got a funny feeling in my stomach,

_Now is not the time,_

"Look, this touchy stuff is beautiful but can we figure out how we are gonna get home? We need to find out who's pretending to be me" Eve stormed off to investigate the cave whilst Annie scanned the area with a scanner Michael had on him. Michael was in a daze, looking overwhelmed by everything that had just happened in front of him, what he had just witnessed, "I have some good news and bad news" Annie called out to all of us,

"Give us the bad news first" Eve wondered over as we all gathered around Annie,

"Bad news is that we're in the wrong galaxy but we're in the next galaxy along from the Milky Way, Andromeda"

"What's the good news?" Eve demanded,

"There's an old teleport somewhere in this cavern that I can probably fix. I've also got a different kind of bad news, good news" Annie grinned sheepishly, "If we teleport back we're gonna forget about Ratchet being the Lost Hero"

_No I won't,_

"How?" Michael asked her,

"Because A.E.P.O only blew up one satellite, the field around the solar system is still there but it's a little weaker instead" Eve supplied,

"What do you mean weaker?"

"I no longer can control when everyone remembers, the only way for the field to be destroyed is if Ratchet confesses who the Lost Hero is to all of A.E.P.O whilst we are within the field"

There were mixed reactions from everyone, Ratchet was trying not to smile, Michael was looking annoyed, I was pretending to be disappointed and Eve just looked bored. I guess she knew that she wasn't going to forget and she just wanted to get back and stop her imposer from making her seem anymore good then they all believe at the moment,

"So where was this teleport?"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

"Erik?!" Katheryn yelled as we all ran down the corridor towards Christine, we didn't have the nanotech. We couldn't save her, we had failed and now we had to tell Erik and watch him begin to mourn. I couldn't feel anything, not even the pain I had felt when we had first found her in Ratchets arms after she was shot or when we were told there was nothing to be done and we had to say goodbye. I knew deep down, then and now, that I will never be able to say goodbye to her. She was my best friend, the first person I met when I got to Earth when I was 10 who felt the same I did, abandoned, lost and like there was nothing left. We have a bond that is stronger than blood, I'm closer to her than my own sister. Although in my defense I had no idea Annie was my sister until a week ago but still, I'm closer to Christine then I am anyone. She knew everything about me, from little things like my favorite colour or song to deep stuff like memories of the Lombaxes that I didn't tell anyone or recently about Katheryn and how I think I feel about her.

I can't say I was prepared for what I saw when I ran into the hospital room, I don't think any of us were. I was in the back of the group when we ran all that way up here from the basement so when I ran into the room I crashed straight into the back of Ratchet as they had all stopped so suddenly in front of me, "Hi guys!" My jaw dropped and my eyes grew wide with shock. Christine was stood next to her hospital bed in her normal clothes again, she had no tubes or wires attached to her and didn't even look like she nearly died no more than an hour or two ago. She was pointing a gun at the fake Eves head who had her hands up in surrender. Erik was stood behind Christine with a bloody nose and looking slightly confused about everything, "Any of you gonna do something or are you gonna stand there and stare at me all day?"

The real Eve snapped out of it and marched up to the fake, "How are you?"

"Really? Took you this long to figure out I'm a fake?" Everyone in the room pointed a gun or a combuster in Ratchet's case when the fake Eve turned into Sam, "You have no idea how good it feels to get that thing off"

"What the hell are you doing here?!" Christine demanded, her grip getting tighter on her gun,

"It's a game" I felt a little nudge on my arm, I looked down to see Ratchet handing me his omniwrench and nodding towards Sam,

_He's telling you to hit Sam over the head with the wrench,_

I took it and nodded, indicating that I knew what he was saying, "What's the game?" Erik questioned,

"You had to ask, didn't you?" Katheryn shook her head at Erik,

"It's called 'What's in Christines blood stream?'. Did you really think it was nanotech?"

"Now!" I hit Sam right in the side of his head with the wrench, knocking him out cold. Everyone looked a little shocked at me and Ratchet when I handed his wrench back and then high-fived him, "What? Can't we celebrate the fact we just knocked this guy out and now he get's the honor of rotting in a cell?"

"No, I think everyone is shocked at the fact that you two high-fived..." Eve shrugged and everyone nodded in agreement.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

"You know, I use to think I was the only one who came up here" I turned to see Annie stood behind me on the roof. It was the same place I had found her after she found out about Michael and her being siblings, "Sorry, kinda stole your spot" I smirked slightly,

"Happy to share, mind if I talk to you?" I nodded at her, I already knew what she was going to talk to me about. After they took Sam away and let Christine go Eve pulled me to the side and explained that Katheryn and Michael would forget about who I am but because Annie found out here on Earth she would remember anyway because she had found out within the field. Eve asked me if I wanted to make Annie forget because she could arrange that. I think I shocked her when I told her to let Annie remember, then I told Eve to leave. It was my side of the bargain back at DESTROY, let her go.

Annie sat down next me and looked at the city in the distance instead of me, "I remember"

"I know you do" Annie looked at me with wide eyes,

"How?"

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not but what are you going to do about it?"

I shrugged at her, "Nothing, if you know then you know. It's up to you what happens next"

Annie smiled at me, I think it was to reassure me, "I'm not going to tell them about you but you have promise me something" I felt relieved that she wasn't going to tell, this was going to become our secret but what did she want me to promise?

"Promise me that if we need you back as the Lost Hero because it's the only way to save the world that you'll do it"

"I promise" In that moment though I doubted myself. Would I really? Would I tell them who I am under all these lies? Could I bring myself to face Protocol 10? I don't know what it is, I could ask Annie what it was but do I really want to know?

"Oh and one more thing" Annie brought me out my thoughts, I frowned at her but she ignored me, "We were in Polaris, right back at your home. Why didn't you stay?"

That caught me off guard, I didn't know either. It was true, we were in Polaris and I could of gotten back from there so why didn't I? What made me choose here?  
>"I have no idea, I guess something happened in me. Like something in my brain just told me to choose here but I don't know when that moment was-"<p>

_"SOMEONE HELP US!" Katheryns scream came through the portal,_

Katheryn. The moment her scream came through the portal I knew where I was going. I was going to save her, why?

_You like her. You like her in that way..._

As soon as I realized that it all made sense. The moments we keep having, that 'almost' moment back at the hospital and the fact that I felt like I always needed to save her, like there was a need inside me to always protect her no matter what happened to me, no matter the cost. I like her, I really like her.

I sat there in confusion over my own feelings, "Ratchet?" I turned to Annie who was watching me, "talk to her."

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

I sat on the edge of my desk, unable to think of anything but the monster and Ratchet. Everything that beast must of seen when he looked into our minds, seeing all Ratchets good days and all his dark ones. Then to see everything I saw and imagined as a small child who had seen death and destruction before she had lived a full life.

Annie was wrong, I also still remembered about Ratchet, I never forgot. Now I think I knew why I remembered, the only thing me and Eve had in common that no one else had or ever will have was the device implanted on us and that was probably the only way that Eve could disconnect herself from the field that made everyone forget. They were connected to our minds, even if mine didn't do anything to my head unlike Eve's that made her evil and twisted. I don't know how that works but I guess it doesn't matter anymore. Maybe it's better if no one found out, it would save Ratchet from whatever Protocol 10 is. In the end, it's all up to him if he tells anyone or not.

Ratchet wondered into the office smiling but his eyes didn't match the smile, "I just spoke to Annie, Sam is going to be in A.E.P.O prison until we find a way to send him back to Vimton and Annie thinks she might be able to do that soon!"

I smiled back, "That's great!"

"Also, they did some tests on Christine and Sam was lying, there's nothing irregular in her blood!"

"Great!"

Ratchet narrowed his eyes at me and let the smile drop, "What's wrong?"

I sighed at him, "I was just thinking about what happened in the cavern"

Ratchet walked over and sat beside me, "I've been thinking about that too"

"I guess I feel a little sorry for that beast"

"Why?"

"For what we exposed him too, I'm not sure about you but I've lived through some dark times and then I let him also see what I imagined as a child. You saw me afterwards"

"What did I see afterwards?" Ratchet looked confused at me, I guess he didn't see what I was saying,

"I was broken. I became someone vulnerable. I was a mess!"

"That's not what I saw" Ratchet smiled a little at me, "Wanna know what I saw?"

"What?" I asked in confusion, what did he see?

"I saw someone brave. I saw someone with courage and knew what she had to do"

"Really?" It was suppose to sound like I doubted him because I did but it came out in a quiet voice instead,

"Really" He whispered back. Then we had one of those moments again, like the moment we had back on Satellite 8 or the one at the hospital except this one actually went somewhere, neither of us ran or ended it by looking away and no one walked in and ended it. We both leant closer and closer to each other until we nose to nose and then we leant forward just that tiny bit more that our lips touched. It was only a short kiss, ending nearly as quickly as it started as Ratchet pulled away, "I'm sorry..." He mumbled looking away, "I don't know what came over me"

"It's okay" I reassured him, he looked back at me and smiled slightly and I could feel heat on my face,

_It's days like this I love the fur covering my face,_

We both leant in again as if we were going to kiss for the second time when we heard pounding footsteps and sprang apart from each other in embarrassment. Michael ran in with a trickle of blood running down the side of his face and looking out of breath. He frowned at us for a second as if he was trying to figure something out,

_He didn't see, did he?"_

"We need to pair of you upstairs!"

"Why?" I asked, slightly relieved that he obviously didn't see us, I think Ratchet was a little relieved too because he relaxed slightly as Michael kept talking,

"Christine has been infected with something and now she's a Code 9" Michael spoke quickly, you could hear the underlying tone of panic in his voice,

"We'll be right up!" I told Michael, he nodded at both of us before running back out the room,

"You know, I'm gonna need a handbook with all these codes in" Ratchet smirked slightly, "What does Code 9 mean?"

I shook my head, unable to believe I was saying this, "She's turned DESTROY"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**Well, this is a different cliffhanger to the others...**

**NO DEAD/ALMOST DEAD PEOPLE!**

**I'm sorry if the last scene wasn't great, I'm not that good at writing those kind of scenes.**

**So, the question is what happens next to them?**

**Does Michael know what happened?**

**Will Erik ever be able to get his fiancee back?**

**Will the team be able to stop the Code 9?**

**and...**

**Why has Christine turned DESTROY?**

**What does that even mean?**

**NEXT:**

**Cue The Rain Part 1: Don't Speak**

* * *

><p><strong>SONGS (Never thought I would have to say that...):<strong>

**In The Hanging Tree from The Hunger Games: Mokingjay Part 1**


	19. Cue The Rain Part 1: Rage and Hatred

**Hello everyone :)**

**I'm so sorry for the late update, I just moved house so I've been packing and then unpacking and sorting everything out so things have been crazy lately!**

**CHAPTER 19? IT WAS CHAPTER 3 LAST TIME I LOOKED!**

**And over 80 reviews?! Thank you everyone! It means everything to me that you are loving this story and that you enjoy it :D**

**Cue the Rain Part 1: Rage and Hatred**

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MOMENTS EARLIER**

**CHRISTINE**

How to stop a DESTROY solider from infiltrating your base for dummies,

Rule One: Make sure they aren't part of A.E.P.O

Rule Two: Make sure they don't have a high clearance level and access to the prison that has the DESTROY commander inside, a bunch of DESTROY troopers and the Warrior.

I could feel the power running through me, making me think in ways I have never thought before. I was no longer Christine West, Level 9 A.E.P.O agent. I was now a true DESTROY soldier with a mind like a Vimtons. I was changing, converting into my true heritage and I was letting it take me over, allowing it to let me see the weakness in the enemies. I was thirsty for combat, hungry for a war to fight in and I won't rest until I get what I want, "I see you've changed" my brother smirks as he notices me walking towards his prison,

"I've seen the truth and weakness of others and now we need to fight" My voice had taken a new tone, it is much more calm and elegant but has a dark undertone that made it sound almost evil.

Good.

"I know but why come to me?" He smirks even more at me,

"DESTROY needs everyone here and I'm your only way of escaping"

"Good, when do we start?"

"Now" I say as I elbow the guard that had walked up to us in the face and knock him out. Sam grinned as I used my telekinesis to open his prison and threw him a gun to defend himself from the agents we would encounter on the way out, "What's the plan?" He asks as he follows me to where the other soldiers were being held, "It's simple, we free the others and then steal a bunch of ships. I'll be able to access the systems to make sure we aren't followed and then we need to get hold of Eve"

"Why Eve?"

"She knows where the temple is"

"How do you know about the temple?!" Sam demanded, I turned to him and smirked,

"Urm hello? How do you think? A.E.P.O don't believe it but I know it's real"

"What's wrong with me?"

"You're going soft but you remember Eve in the beginning? She was perfect so if we get Katheryn at that stage we have the perfect soldier to finally destroy this place because no offense but you always fail at that but now the only way to convert her now is whatever is in the temple"

"Do you know what happens to us if we go there?!"

"We're converted into our true beings or something like that but I'm pretty sure that part is to make sure no one goes there" Sam shrugged slightly, agreeing with me. The alarms started up at that moment and the shouting of an oncoming force drifted towards us, "Relax, they're coming here because that guard has woken up and noticed that you aren't here and they think I'm way to innocent to free the guy who shot me from prison and at any moment..."

_"Christine? Can you read me?" _Annie asked through the radio, I smiled slightly as she spoke on cue,

"I'm alright, he hasn't got me but I'm at the prison right now. Most of DESTROY have gone" I nodded at Sam and the prisons behind him, they all opened and uncovered the troopers behind, including the Commander. Sam got them moving as I kept talking to Annie,

_"What do you mean?"_

"I mean that Sam must've helped them escape"

_"Crap, Michael is on his way with Katheryn and Ratchet. Just hang tight until they get there"_

"Copy" I nodded at the DESTROY group that had gathered before turning my radio off, "I've disabled the locks on the elevator doors but you'll have to slide down the wire, there's the equipment you need attached. Go to the hanger and grab some ships then go to Satellite 3, the coordinates are in the ships. I'll give you time then meet you there" I dropped the black backpack that I had on in front of the Commander, "These are weapons for everyone, shoot anyone except the Lombaxes"

"Why not the Lombaxes?" A trooper asked as they grabbed a weapon,

"They're mine"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**MICHAEL**

_"They're mine" _Christine didn't realize that we had placed a listening device on her just after we arrested Sam in case this happened but it sent a chill down my spine when I heard her say that. It wasn't Christine, it was whatever Sam had injected her with talking. The real Christine is probably trapped in her own mind and how were you suppose to stop something that had infected her blood? Christine was now a Code 9 and we needed to stop her, no matter what it took.

I ran into Katheryn and Ratchets office to tell them what was happening, Christine said they needed Katheryn for whatever plan they were forming for after this temple place and we needed to make sure she had no way to Kath. They both jumped up when I ran in, I had no idea why and I had no time to think of reasons why they were both looking a little embarrassed and guilty, "We need the pair of you upstairs now!" I commanded,

"Why?" Katheryn asked, looking a little confused at my sudden demand,

"Christine has been infected with something and now she's a Code 9"

Katheryns eyes widen whilst Ratchet frowned slightly, not know what I meant, "We'll be right up!" I nodded before running back out, I could hear them mutter something before following behind me. We all ran up to Christines office where Annie and Erik were waiting for us, both of them looking at some files on her desk,

"Anything?" I asked them. Annie turned to me and started reading the file in her hands,

"The temple is out of some Vimton tale, similar to us with the Techomites"

"Which aren't real, of course" I pointed out,

"Course they aren't" Ratchet mumbled under his breath, Annie elbowed him slightly, "Continue"

"Anyway, the tale says the temple is on a little marble planet full of ignorant creatures and" Annie smirked when she read the next part, "pudding brains"

"What planet is that then?" I asked her,

"Earth, you pudding brain" Ratchet smiled and the others looked like they were trying not to laugh,

"Anyway, it says the temple is buried further than the skeleton of the earth. If a Vimton is to go there they will become 'creatures of power'"

"But they already have powers?!" Erik blurted out,

"It means that there powers would most likely get stronger or they would gain new ones"

"Hang on, Christine is only a half. What happens if she went there?" Ratchet walked over and picked up another file,

"It doesn't say. Christine and DESTROY seem to believe that if they took Katheryn down there then her device would become complete and she would become the super solider the Lunatic always wanted"

"Wait, if I go down there I become evil?!" Katheryn asked in a high pitched voice, looking worried. I couldn't help but smile a tiny bit,

"I wont let them take you" Ratchet said, reassuring her. I frowned, this temple might not even be real, he didn't have to try and be the hero who saves the day. It's not like he's the Lost Hero who always saved everyone,

"That's if this temple is even real!" I snapped,

"There are some images attached to various versions of the story, I could set a map looking for anything on Earth that matches one of the pictures. Hopefully we'll get there before they do and be able to get Christine back" Annie gathered all the files, "Erik, I want you to scan Christines blood again, make sure there is nothing we missed!" Annie commanded, Erik nodded before running out,

"So what are we to do? Shouldn't we be going down to the hangers and stopping them?!" I asked her, she seemed to have taken charge of this mission and I was going to let her, knowing me I would let my emotions get in the way,

"No, you heard her. If we go down there now we'll most likely be killed, we need to stop her a different way. We need to know what's making her like this and get an antidote to stop it"

I nodded, "I'll help you"

"Thanks. Ratchet?" Ratchet looked up at Annie, "Stay with Katheryn, make sure no one gets to her"

"Trust me, they wont" He assured us, Annie nodded before walking away. I frowned slightly, confused to his sudden need to protect her before following Annie.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**EVE**

"So you want me to find her?" I asked Sam in a low voice so Christine wouldn't hear,

"Look, the person who wants me to bring Chris to her is very important to Christines fate, her destiny"

"I don't believe all that stuff" I shook my head a little at him. All the DESTROY soldiers who had been captured, including Sam, had walked onto Satellite 3 no more than ten minutes ago, demanding that I take them to the temple. Most them went down to the medical bay to tend some wounds they had gotten when they fought their way out of A.E.P.O, it was when they told me that I noticed Christine stood with them. She had a different look on her face, like she had a new purpose. She kind of reminded me of myself in the early days of the device, "Look, who wants Christine also wants Katheryn to become like you" Sam whispered,

"Why?" There was still a part of me that wanted to keep Katheryn safe but I knew what was going to come in the future, call it our destiny if you want. I know what my purpose in the game is, even if it is yet to start,

"I don't know"

"Look, if I help you then you have to tell me who this person is!"

"Fine" Sam pulled us further away, just to make sure Christine couldn't hear us, "It's Carina Ceres, you know who I mean"" I couldn't help but smile a little, I had never seen Sam look so vulnerable, "Fine, I'll help you get there"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**KATHERYN**

"So why do you think they need me?" I asked Ratchet,

"Maybe because you're a personal connection to me" I raised an eyebrow at him, "I mean, the team..."

"Maybe but why have me when they already have Eve? If they did change me then I would be exactly like her?" Ratchet shrugged, not really knowing what to say. We both sat in an awkward silence, neither of us knew what to say. Were we to talk about what had happened between us? Or talk about what could happen next with me? Should we talk about Christine?

"The device..." Ratchet mumbled, looking deep in thought,

"What was that?"

"When you scan blood, what do you scan for?"

"Alien viruses" I told him, a little confused to where this was going,

"That's it!" Ratchet ran over to his radio that was sat on the desk where he dumped it when we walked in, "Erik, scan her blood for devices!"

_"What?"_

"Ratchet? Wanna explain?"

"Think about it! If DESTROY wanted to control Christine, why didn't they just take her blood instead of almost killing her and then putting something _into_ her blood" Ratchet looked at me like he was expecting a reaction, all he got from me was a raised eyebrow, "There are some people who can't be controlled using their blood, not if they have half blood. I saw it in a report! Christine is too strong mentally to be controlled using her blood so they have to use something else to control her but what if the only way to get it into her body was to inject her with it?!"

I started to nod, knowing where he was going, "Like a tiny device or something?!"

"Think about it, the guy who put your device in was going to control you using it. What if DESTROY created a mini version and then injected her with it?"

"Why DESTROY?"

_"Wait, what if it is someone else?"_

"Like a third party?"

_"C'mon Kath, A.E.P.O has tons of __enemies. What if DESTROY is working with someone else? Or someone within DESTROY is working for someone else?"_

"But why control Christine?" I asked both the boys, they both stayed silent. I guess I kinda knew as well, Christine was probably the best way to me and my files on my device. Only a person with a Level 9 clearance, me and the Director can access that file. Michael would be no use to DESTROY as he is not allowed to access the file due to the fact we're the same species (It's some protocol from eons ago when A.E.P.O was created, I don't know why we still follow it)

"It's either to get to you or someone needs her" Ratchet concluded,

_"Guys? We think we've found it" _Annie spoke through the radio,

"Where?" Both Ratchet and I asked at the same time,

_"Under some old theater, someone has set up a base there"_

_"DESTROY?"_ Erik asked,

_"I don't think so, records say someone called Carina Ceres owns it. We did a bio-scan, it couldn't say what species are in there, too much interference off something in the theater but there are at least 50 different readings"_

"Any idea what the interference is coming off?"

_"No idea but we better go in. Prepare to mobilize"_

"Copy that, over" Ratchet turned the radio off and turned to me, "You're not going" He snapped at me, I knew he was being serious but he must think I'm crazy if I'm not going with them. If DESTROY are involved there was a high chance Eve would be as well and she was my trouble and I had put Christine in this mess, I think it's my responsibility to get her out of it,

"Hell yeah I am!"

"No you're not! I'm not having you risk your life!"

"Then you can protect me whilst we're there but I'm going and that's the end of that" I got up and started to walk away when he grabbed my arm, making me face him and stare him in the eyes,

"What happens if I can't protect you, huh? They'll change you and there would be nothing I could do about it, the real you would die" He challenged, his eyes full of concern,

"That's a risk I'm willing to take" I stated. I was putting on a brave face but the truth was that I was terrified of what could happen next, what would happen to me and my mind if they won and I changed sides. Would the evil me care about killing anyone from A.E.P.O? Would she kill any of my friends without even blinking? Would she kill Ratchet and not even look back at what she had done to the universe if he had died?

I leaned forward and kissed him again. He tensed up at first before relaxing a little and kissing me back, moving his hands from my wrist where he grabbed me a moment ago up to my cheeks, cupping my face in his hands. We both pulled away slightly, are foreheads till touching and we were sharing the same air again, like in the hospital, "What was that for?" He whispered, smiling at me,

"Me promising not to die" I smiled back, he grinned before pulling fully away,

"Duty calls!" He joked before waltzing out the room. I shook my head a little, sighing before following him.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**RATCHET**

"So what's the plan?" I asked Annie when we all met up in the hanger. Some of the heli-carriers were missing, the DESTROY troopers used them in their grand escape, I guess Christine gave them some coordinates for somewhere, assessing them in their fancy little plan. We stood near the only jet that hadn't been damaged in anyway during their escape, "I got some documents about Carina and plans of the theater, we'll discuss it on the way there" Annie nodded at me before noticing Katheryn behind me, "Why are you here?"

"I'm coming with you" She told them, I knew that they wouldn't be able to talk her out of it, I tried and failed,

"No you're not." Michael stated, growling slightly,

"She already promised not to die?" I smirked, even though I felt horribly guilty inside. I was lying to her, telling her I had no idea who the Lost Hero is and that I had also forgotten. She had no idea that I was the Lost Hero, she didn't know my true life story instead of the lies I had come up with. I couldn't tell her now, I was in far to deep to risk it. I wasn't even going to tell Annie, she had found out on her own and even if she had promised not to tell anyone I was still a little worried that she would turn on me and tell all of A.E.P.O. Then I was also feeling guilty Talwyn, she was still waiting for me. She was on that team that were looking for me, she still believed I was alive. Yet here I was, kissing someone I've only known for five months and hardly giving her a second thought. Sure, we had decided shortly before I left that perhaps a relationship between us wouldn't really be a good idea because we would never know when I would be sent to some distant galaxy to save it (kinda ironic, right?) and stuff like that, "Ratchet? You've gone off in a daydream again" Erik was clicking his fingers in front of my eyes,

"Right, sorry. What were you saying?"

"I said that perhaps Katheryn coming could be a good idea, she's a pretty good fighter and if the pair of you stick together then she would probably be alright out there" Annie repeated, Micheal looked irritated behind her. I nodded, agreeing with them. Even if I felt guilty, I couldn't help but like Katheryn, maybe one day I could tell her the truth about me and there was a high chance I would never see Tal and the guys again, it's not like I'm trying to replace them? We all walked into the jet and Annie walked over to the screen inside.

There was a picture of someone who almost looked familiar, she had straight brown hair that rested on her shoulders, she had wrinkles on her forehead and bags under her eyes. It looked like she hadn't slept in days, "This is Carina Ceres, she owns the theater that we believe the temple is below. Reports say Carina hasn't left the theater since she bought it, no productions have happened and people have never seen anyone leave but another scan showed a perception filter so we can't know if those reports are true"

"So we're best of assuming DESTROY have most likely been there?"

"No. Otherwise they would be there right now. I think it's an old enemy of ours but the trouble is we don't know which one, we have tons. The only way to get the answers to all this is to actually go and find the answers ourselves" Annie stood back and let Michael take over. He bought a map up on the screen and started drawing around the theater, "Different groups will enter at alternative placements and begin an ambush"

"Nope" I interrupted, he was basically telling us the fastest way to get killed,

"I'm sorry?" He asked me sarcastically. I walked over and began drawing on the screen,

"Best place of entry is the roof. A small team could enter without raising any alarms, they would have to do a HALO jump onto the roof. Once inside they could split into two teams, one goes and finds the temple and make sure no one enters and the other go and find Christine, if Erik goes with that team there is a high chance that her emotions and feelings would prevent her from shooting him, making it possible for him to get close enough to her and knock her out. Once that's done we could send in a much larger team to ambush and arrest everyone."

"That's a-" Michael started before Annie interrupted,

"great idea!" Michael scowled as the others agreed with Annie, "I guess the best idea would be us lot to go in first, Katheryn, Ratchet and Erik can go find Christine whilst me and Michael go find the temple. Agreed?"

"Agreed" Everyone said at the same time.

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**CHRISTINE**

"The owner is Carina Ceres, she was part of the Rage group that helped create my device before A.E.P.O destroyed them. She was obsessed with finding the 'temple' mention in many different Vimton stories" Eve was stood in front of the group that had gathered to hear the plan. We were in a heli-carrier heading towards the theater that the temple was below. Sam kept fidgeting and throwing me looks that I didn't understand. I couldn't have him distracted during this plan, it could cost us everything, "She found it and purchased the theater that it laid above it. We're heading there now"

"Will she attack?" A trooper asked, Eve threw Sam a look before answering,

"She's expecting us" Eve nodded before swiftly leaving the room we were huddled in. Sam yelled at everyone to get ready before leaving himself, I ran after him because I needed to know something, "Sam, wait!" I called out, he stopped in his tracks and faced me, "What does Eve mean she's expecting us?"

"You'll see" He mumbled before trying to leave again,

"Who is she?" I asked, Eve had shot Sam a few looks during her talk, mostly when she was talking about Carina Ceres. Almost as if he knew her,

"What do you mean?" He demanded, his tone harsh and low,

"You clearly know her, what's your connection to her?"

"I made her a promise and let's just say I'm doing what I'm told. Now, prepare to move out, we're here" He turned away and opened the door that I hadn't noticed next to us. The troopers had now gathered behind us, waiting for their orders. Sam got out before turning and offering to help me down. I jumped next to him, refusing his help. He clearly knew something that could help us right now and he wasn't gonna tell us, "One more thing" Sam said before nodding at a trooper.

The trooper twisted my arms to behind my back, I had to bite to inside of my cheek to stop myself from crying out in pain. I was about to open my hand and use my telekinesis to pull them away when I felt another sharp pain in my hands before they grew numb, my head also began to feel fuzzy before it cleared.

_What the hell have you done?!_

I stared around me in horror, why was I, an A.E.P.O agent, surrounded by DESTROY soldiers?! I could feel the weight of handcuffs around my wrist, biting into my skin but I still couldn't feel my hands. Everything that had happened came rushing through my mind, letting Sam free, helping DESTROY escape, leading them to Eve and finding this temple place, "Welcome back sister" Sam sneered before grabbing my arm and pulling me along. Inside I was feeling confused and a little scared but on the outside I was standing tall, making it look like none of this was getting to me. I studied the building in front of me, it had 3 floors including the ground but there was probably more underground. I could see at least three exits, all guarded with two men with guns who looked slightly out of focus. Looking at the clouds above the building and the fact they had an almost buzzing look about them it meant there was a perception filter that only aliens could see through. It was out of focus for me because I was only half alien, meaning it was only half working on me. Sam pulled us up to what I guessed what was the main door, only pausing to nod at the guards who immediately moved out the way, meaning they knew Sam and were expecting him as well as me. The inside was nothing like the outside, whilst the outside looked like it was falling apart the inside was amazing. We were stood on a carpet that was the most beautiful deep red I had ever seen,

_To hide the stains perhaps?_

I smirked a little at my thought before turning my attention to the walls, they had a red swirling patterned wallpaper on with paintings spread up a marble staircase. The staircase had a red carpet running down the center (seriously, these people love the colour red, maybe it really is to hide the stains?!). There were three doors to the left of me, one of them had the label 'basement' on, I guess that was their entrance to the temple. Every door had an armed guard beside it, so did every window in case someone made a mad dash out their, "Checking every door for an escape route and counting the guards before weighing your chances of escape. I'm impressed, how's you firing?" Sam asked, leaning in next to my ear,

"I don't know, hand me your gun and we can find out" I snapped at him,

"Good under pressure, they have taught you well" Sam pulled me up the stairs to the double doors on top,

"Yes and I thought that after kidnapping Ratchet DESTROY would know that perhaps the 'steal an agent' game doesn't work out in your favor?" I smirked again, all he did was shake his head and spoke in a low voice, "This isn't DESTROY. This is someone else" Sam pushed the doors open, making me follow him into a smaller room. In the center of the room was a red sofa and two red armchairs (How much red can one person have?!) and that was all that was in the room. In one of the armchairs sat a green woman wearing some black leather jeans and a black vest that was tucked into what almost looked like a tool belt but instead of tools it looked like different weapons (at least they weren't red?), her hair was jet black with a blue and pink highlight on the right side of her face.

She stood up as we walked in and for a moment I thought I was looking in a mirror before I realized that I wasn't in my Vimton form, nor was I wearing those clothes. She was a completely different person and yet, she looked just like me. I frowned in confusion at this person and she smiled a little back as Sam took away my handcuffs, "Here's what I promised" He said, pushing me forward slightly so I was fully in the room before slamming the door shut behind me. I could hear the door locking but I didn't fight, I couldn't take my eyes off the woman,

"Look at that, you have his frown" Her voice was smooth and calm, she was stood tall and confident but her eyes looked longing, like she was missing something terribly,

"Who are you?!" I demanded from her,

"Right, of course. First I would just like to say that this is a very big moment for me, even if it isn't in the circumstance I wanted. But, thank you for coming anyway and-"

"Thank you for coming?!" I snapped at her, she looked a little shocked at me, "I was brainwashed and then kidnapped! All for some temple thing and so you could meet me? Who the hell are you?!"

"Right, let's try again" She walked over to me and stood in front of me, clearly ignoring the fact that I was fuming, "I'm Carina Ceres"

"I gathered that"

"Yes but you don't know what I am in connection to you"

"Who then?"

She took a deep breath before saying the words that made my world come crashing down, "I'm your mother"

**IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII**

**Another chapter, another cliffhanger.**

**If you got the reference I just made then you deserve a hundred life points.**

**LONGEST CHAPTER SO FAR!**

**Think of it as my apology for the wait...**

**NEXT:**

**Cue The Rain Part 2: Walk Away **


End file.
